ABSTRACT
Oil spills have been a major source of concern due its harmful effect on the environment. To
reduce the effect of oil spills, new remediation strategies need to be developed whiles
enhancing the efficiency of existing remediation ones. In this study, the potential of TiO2 and
its modified form (Fe-TiO2) as a stand-alone or as an add-on remediation strategy was
explored. This was carried out by accessing the how TiO2 and Fe-TiO2 photodegrades crude
oil fractions (aromatics, paraffins, asphalthenes) under sunlight, visible (400W) and UV light
with four (4) hours irradiation time. The TiO2 and the Fe-TiO2 used were synthesized with
the mild hydrothermal method and characterized with XRD, UV-Vis, DRS, SEM, EDX,
TGA, DSC and FTIR. These characterization techniques confirmed the production of the
anatase phase TiO2 and Fe-TiO2 with estimated bandgap of 3.12 eV and 2.90eV, respectively.
The Debye Scherrer’s equation was used to compute the crystallite size from the XRD
patterns as 4.10 nm and 3.85 nm for TiO2 and Fe-TiO2, respectively.
The photodegradation experiments on the aromatics, paraffins and asphalthenes showed that
Fe-TiO2 is better at degrading the fractions than TiO2 under visible light and sunlight
irradiation. These conclusions were arrived at from the analysis of the photoproducts using
UV-Vis, FTIR and GC/MS. The GC/MS spectra showed the formation of new compounds,
diminishing in the concentration of existing compounds and the disappearance of existing
compounds. It was revealed that, photocatalysis is effective in remediating aromatics than
asphaltenes and paraffins. The results from the study showed the potential of photoremediation as a stand-alone or add-on oil spill response strategy.
Edu, F (2021). Synthesis And Application of Pure And Modified TiO2 For Photocatalycic Remediation of Fractionated Crude Oil.. Afribary.com: Retrieved April 17, 2021, from https://afribary.com/works/synthesis-and-application-of-pure-and-modified-tio2-for-photocatalycic-remediation-of-fractionated-crude-oil
Frontiers, Edu. "Synthesis And Application of Pure And Modified TiO2 For Photocatalycic Remediation of Fractionated Crude Oil." Afribary.com. Afribary.com, 08 Apr. 2021, https://afribary.com/works/synthesis-and-application-of-pure-and-modified-tio2-for-photocatalycic-remediation-of-fractionated-crude-oil . Accessed 17 Apr. 2021.
Frontiers, Edu. "Synthesis And Application of Pure And Modified TiO2 For Photocatalycic Remediation of Fractionated Crude Oil.". Afribary.com, Afribary.com, 08 Apr. 2021. Web. 17 Apr. 2021. < https://afribary.com/works/synthesis-and-application-of-pure-and-modified-tio2-for-photocatalycic-remediation-of-fractionated-crude-oil >.
Frontiers, Edu. "Synthesis And Application of Pure And Modified TiO2 For Photocatalycic Remediation of Fractionated Crude Oil." Afribary.com (2021). Accessed April 17, 2021. https://afribary.com/works/synthesis-and-application-of-pure-and-modified-tio2-for-photocatalycic-remediation-of-fractionated-crude-oil