Comprehensive treatment of oil-contaminated soils using CO2-Responsive O/W microemulsions

In exploration of petroleum resources, a considerable amount of soils are inevitably contaminated, leading to many long-term environmental impacts. However, the treatment of oil-contaminated soils to reduce the residual oil for safe disposal at low energy intensity is a challenging task. In this stu...

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Veröffentlicht in:Journal of cleaner production 2022-03, Vol.341, p.130857, Article 130857
Hauptverfasser: Chen, Xiangyu, Ma, Xinrui, Yeung, Tony, Sun, Dejun, Xu, Zhenghe
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Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:In exploration of petroleum resources, a considerable amount of soils are inevitably contaminated, leading to many long-term environmental impacts. However, the treatment of oil-contaminated soils to reduce the residual oil for safe disposal at low energy intensity is a challenging task. In this study, a CO2-responsive microemulsion was formulated to treat oil-contaminated soils effectively at ambient temperatures of low energy consumption. Such effective treatment reduced the oil level of the contaminated soils from ∼15 wt% to below the discharge limit of 1 wt%. Purging of CO2 through the spent microemulsions for 30 s caused a rapid dissociation of the superamphiphile in the microemulsions, leading to a complete phase separation with the cleaned soils settled to the bottom for safe disposal, followed by an aqueous phase in the middle for recycling and a value-added oil product on top. The rapid and deep cleaning of oil-contaminated soils was attributed to an ultra-low interfacial tension and high level solubilization of oily contaminants in the O/W microemulsions. Such approach leads to a zero-waste discharge operation of remediating oil-contaminated soils while recovering value-added oil. Compared with other treatment methods operated at high temperature and/or pressure conditions, treatment of oil-contaminated soils using CO2-responsive microemulsions is easier to reach the discharge limit of residual oil while operating at ambient temperatures without any expensive equipment or extreme working conditions, making this microemulsion method a promising candidate for commercial applications of treating oil-contaminated soils in the oil field. [Display omitted] •A novel CO2-responsive O/W microemulsion•Ultralow interfacial tension and high solubilization of oily contaminants•Rapid and deep cleaning of oil-contaminated soils for safe disposal•Easy and safe to operate at the ambient temperature of low energy intensity
ISSN:0959-6526
1879-1786
DOI:10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.130857