Article pubs.acs.org/IECR
Waste Biomass-Extracted Surfactants for Heavy Oil Removal Matthew D. Baxter,† Edgar Acosta,*,† Enzo Montoneri,§ and Silvia Tabasso‡ †
Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto, 200 College Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Star AgroEnergy, Università degli Studi di Foggia, Via A. Gramsci 89, 71121 Foggia, Italy ‡ Università di Torino, Dipartimento di Chimica, Via P. Giuria 7, 10125 Torino, Italy §
ABSTRACT: The potential synergism between biobased surfactants, produced from the alkaline extraction of waste biomass, and a synthetic surfactant was assessed. This synergism was explored in terms of surface and interfacial tension reduction, and the ability of mixtures to remove heavy oil from oil-bearing sand. The waste biomass sources investigated were return activated sludge (RAS) from municipal wastewater from Toronto, Canada, and urban refuse (UR) matter from municipal solid waste compost treatment facilities in Piemonte, Italy. Surfactants from both sources were extracted using alkaline extraction methods. Mixtures of these waste biobased surfactants with the synthetic surfactant, sodium dioctyl sulfosuccinate (AOT), at a total concentration of 1gTOC/L, were able to achieve low interfacial tensions (
