Evaluation of heavy crude oil from a water-oil model system as starting material for the preparation of adsorbents type NaY zeolite-templated carbon

•Adsorption of heavy crude-oil in NaY zeolite in a water-oil model system to control oil clean-up is presented.•Use of heavy oil/water matrix as a raw material to produce mesoporous carbons is reported.•The carbon with the best surface characteristics (220 ± 3 m2/g, 4.9 nm) was obtained at 800 °C and 1 h.•ZTC materials obtained could be applied for water treatment processes.•A cationic surfactant was relevant to facilitate adsorption of crude oil.

In this work, NaY zeolite is explored as a possible “template” to obtain porous materials type ZTC from the adsorption of heavy crude oil in a water-oil model system (emulsion). In order to produce the adsorbents, a cationic surfactant is selected to facilitate the adsorption of the crude oil into the pores of the zeolite and to get the composite, which was activated with controlled thermal treatments (T: 700-800 °C and t: 0.5-1 h) in inert conditions (N2 gaseous). The starting materials, composite and porous carbons were characterized using structural/surface analysis techniques (API Gravity, SARA, IR, XRD, XRF, TGA, Langmuir isotherms, BET and SEM). The results showed that four types of mesoporous carbons were produced with specific surface areas between 70 ± 1 m2/g and 220 ± 3 m2/g, average pore volumes between 0.144 cm3/g and 0.40 cm3/g and average pore widths between 4.9 nm and 8.3 nm. The activation conditions of 800 °C and 1 h allowed to make the carbonaceous material with the best surface characteristics (220 ± 3 m2/g, 0.27 cm3/g, and 4.9 nm). Therefore, it is concluded that under assay conditions employed, the heavy crude oil, as a mixed model (water-oil), from an aqueous environment is a starting material suitable for preparation of “mesoporous” carbons.

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