Comparative Study on Raw and Modified Kapok Fibers as Sorbent Materials for Oil Sorption

In despite of rapid development of palm oil industry in Malaysia, a large volume of palm oil mill effluent has been produced concurrently which required some treatments before discharge into the surroundings. Oil is one of the important energy resources in modern world and need to be transported across the globe via oceans and inland transports. However, the risk of oil spillage over water body during transportation is very high due some accidents and other factors .Both of these issues are some examples which contributed to oily wastewater contamination problems and attracted a lot of concerns recently. Kapok fibers or scientifically named as Ceiba pentandra (L.) Gaertn is a natural sorbent that has the feasibility as filter material to separate the immiscible liquids such as oil in water mixture. Different modifications have been proposed in order to enhance the characteristics of the kapok fibers in oil sorption including surface modification and chemical modification. This research project evaluates and compares the performance of different type kapok fibers in application of removing residual oil from palm oil mill effluent (POME) and diesel oil as represent the oil contaminant for oils spill cleanup. Three types of kapok fibers which are raw kapok fiber, sodium hydroxide treated kapok fiber and surface modified kapok fiber are evaluated for their sorption characteristics and compared. The effect of packing densities on the sorption characteristics of each prepared kapok fiber were studied in batch system. Oil sorption capacity and percentage of dynamic oil retention were evaluated. Apart from that, the effectiveness of the removal of residual oils using the kapok fibers would be evaluated in a continuous packed bed column where the effect of packing densities on the Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) reduction and pH value changes would be evaluated.