Determination of the viability of chicken feather as oil spill clean-up sorbent for crude oil and its lower fractions

In this study a comparative assessment was conducted between chicken feather and a conventional synthetic sorbent mat used in the oil industry to clean-up oil spill. The result of the study shows that chicken feather has higher oil sorption capacity and sorbed oil recoverability than the standard (synthetic sorbent mat), and competes well with the standard in terms of sorbed oil retainability. Chicken feather sorbed per unit mass 13.10±0.67g/g of crude oil, 11.15±0.84g/g of diesel and 9.70g/g±0.91 of kerosene while the standard sorbed per unit mass 11.50±0.54g/g of crude oil, 10.35±0.77g/g of diesel and 8.20±0.93g/g of kerosene. Sorbed oil recovered from a unit mass of chicken feather and standard are 12.25±0.38g/g of crude oil, 10.30±0.91g/g of diesel, 8.50±0.27g/g of kerosene and 9.67±0.36 g/g of crude oil, 8.40±0.95 g/g of diesel and 6.50±0.49 g/g of kerosene respectively. Langmuir adsorption model and pseudo second order models fitted the process more precisely. Chicken feather competed favourably with the standard and both can be applied on land and aqueous environment in oil spill cleanup. It is an effective and viable sorbent for oil spill clean-up.Keywords: Chicken feather, crude oil, diesel, adsorption kinetics, oil sorption capacity