The effect of environmental factors on the adsorption of lubricating oil onto expanded graphite

The development of high effective adsorbent materials is of great importance for the removal of oil spillage and chemical leakage in environmental cleanup. Herein, the uptake of lubricating oil on a new type of expanded graphite was investigated by batch techniques. The results indicated that the maximum adsorption capacity of expanded graphite can be maintained over a wide ionic strength range, from 0.001 to 1.0 mol/L of NaCl, making them suitable for lubricating oil cleanup under harsh conditions. The outstanding adsorption performance of expanded graphite is attributed to its unique physical properties such as high porosity, high hydrophobicity, low density and excellent mechanism stability. The finding presented herein indicated that the expanded graphite is a promising candidate for the uptake of lubricating oil in environmental remediation in oil spillage and chemical leakage accidents.