Treatment of spilled crude oil in environment using environmentally friendly nonionic tween surfactants

Abstract EN

Crude oil spills in the environment; either in soil or in water of rivers and seas is considered a great environmental problem.

That is due to the presence of crude oil in the open water has a negative impact on the ecosystem of fishes and their respiration.

Furthermore, crude oil has poisoning components which harm the ecological system.

The effective method of treating the spilled crude oil in the environment is the formation of dispersions for this oil, which prevents the accumulation of the crude oil in specific area and allows its biodegradation by the microorganisms.

Here, environmentally friendly nonionic surfactants, namely: Tween-20, 40, 60 and 80 were investigated as dispersants for dispersing the crude oil spilled in the ecosystem.

The study showed that the polyethylene glycol chain length of the different tweens has a great influence on their ability to form crude oil emulsions.

Furthermore, the surface activity of the investigated surfactants was an important factor in their crude oil dispersing function.