Use of welding powder as a low-cost adsorbent for waste motor oil removal

Abstract

Waste motor oil (WMO), which has no stable form or structure, causes major environmental problems and damage to the ecosystem once it is disposed to the environment. Because of the high toxicity of contents in such effluent, it must be treated before being discharged into the receiving environment. In recent years, the valorization and the use of waste materials to remove toxic pollutants is of great importance to researchers and diverse industries. In this study, the usability of waste welding powder (WWP) as an adsorbent for waste oil removal was investigated. For this purpose, investigating the usability of material, which is generated as industrial waste, in wastewater treatment will lead to the evaluation of waste. The effects of temperature, pH, WWP amount, and initial WMO amount were investigated. According to the adsorption studies, 1 g WWP/L of the processed adsorbent was able to effectively remove 95.05% of WMO (100 mg) at a pH of 2 at 30°C. Stereo microscopy images showed a large amount of oil adsorbed on the WWP surface. The different WWP properties were determined by adsorption isotherm (Harkins–Jura), kinetic (pseudo-second order), and thermodynamic (ΔG: −5.1 kJ mol^–1) experiments. It is thought that WWP, which is a low-cost and waste material, can be used as a promising adsorbent in WMO removal.