Performance Assessment of Ceric Induced Methylmethacrylate Kenaf Shive Sorbents in Crude Oil Spills and Water System

With the global challenge that casted the attention of most environmentalist of recent is the crude oil spillage, and the need for extensive research to improving and developing viable natural sorbents for oil clean-up arose. This paper aimed at the synthesis of crude oil sorbents from kenaf shive and investigate the effects of initiator concentration, monomer ratio and particle sizes -in the domain of 0.5-2.5 wt%, 0.5-2.0 wt % and 125-1000 µm respectively- on the grafting efficiency and crude oil sorption. The effects of the individual and combine factors were carried out using a statistical experimental design matrix of five-level central composite design (CCD). Respond surface methodology (RSM) was used to optimise and develop equations for synthesis navigation. The optimal sorption 7.0 g/g was achieved at initiator concentration, monomer ratio and particle size of 1.25wt %, 1.50 wt % and 562µm respectively. FIRT, DT-TGA and XRD analyses were carried out on the optimised sorbent. Further computations for grafting efficiency (GE), homopolymers and density were carried out.