Equilibrium kinetics study of electrospun polystyrene and polystyrene-zeolite fibres for crude oil-water separation

Electrospun polystyrene, zeolite-modified polystyrene fibres and expandable polystyrene foam (EPS) were used to remove crude oil from oil-spilled water by adsorption process. Varying proportions of the adsorbent materials were used in the experiment. The polystyrene fibres were prepared from the viscous precursor solution of the expandable polystyrene foam dissolved in Xylene, using electrospinning technique. Porosimetry analyses of the adsorbents EPS foam, EPS fiber and EPS-Zeolite fiber was done using BET method. Equilibrium adsorption isotherms and kinetics were investigated. The experimental data were obtained from adsorption analyses and subsequently analyzed using Lagergren adsorption models. The kinetic data obtained were analyzed using a pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order equation. The experimental data were found to fit very well the pseudo-second-order kinetic model with correlation coefficient (R2) value of 0.9994 and calculated equilibrium adsorption amount (qe,expt) between 1.9763 and 9.4073 mg/g. EPS-zeolite fibres showed highest adsorption efficiency (9.4073 mg/g) for the removal of crude oil from oil spill more than EPS foam and EPS fibre.