SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF HYDROPHOBIC SILICA NANOPARTICLES FOR OIL SPILL REMEDIATION USING PARAFFIN AS MODEL OIL

Silica nanoparticles have received considerable attention due to their unique structure,
high chemical, mechanical and thermal stability and their high surface area. These
constmctive properties make them attractive materials for many applications.
The principal focus of this thesis is the synthesis of silica nanoparticles with
unique properties and their application in affinity for oil adsorption from water. Silica
sols were synthesized by sol gel process with di!Jerent hydrolysis ratio (2, 4, 6, 8, and
1 0). Thermophysical properties of these sols such as refractive index, viscosity and
density were investigated in temperature range from 293.15k to 343.15k to study the
effect of the hydrolysis ratio in silica sol properties. The results showed that the
reti-active index, viscosity and density values are increasing with the hydrolysis ratio
and decreasing with temperature. Moreover the particle size of the synthesized silica
sols (7, 10, 30, 70 and 177 nm) increases with the hydrolysis ratio (2, 4, 6, 8 and 10).