Mats for Removing Technical Oil Contamination

The aim of the investigation was to design and prepare a fibrous mat containing chicken feathers as an active filling to absorb spills of petroleum derivatives. The fibrous mat used to remove petroleum contamination consists of an active layer from chicken feathers (the main waste from poultry plants), placed between two layers of hydrophobic material of PP or PES in the form of nonwovens. The mata designed are characterised by excellent sorp-tion of a wide range of hydrophobic petroleum substances, selectivity (sorption of liquid immiscible with water) and subdivision even at the highest saturation of the mat. Oil binder mats based on chicken feathers have been found to be highly effective in absorbing spilled oil from water surface. The material can be used, directly on a water surface regardless of weather conditions, as well as on other surfaces such as concrete or asphalt to fight leak-ages of oily substances. The mats are light, easy to store and use, and inexpensive. Apart from sorptive proprieties of the mats designed, the possibility of biological utilisation of pe-troleum contamination by means of a bioremediation method was introduced in the article. Key words: mat, chicken feathers, oil spills, bioremediation, sorption. lite, vermiculite, glass, crushed, volcani