THE EFFICIENCY OF POMELO

(Citrus maxima) PEEL AS A

NATURAL OIL SPILL REMEDIATION

AGENT

Researchers:

Crystalen Barcela

Alejandra Soliven

Mr. Jason O. Salvadora

Subject Teacher

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 I

Introduction

Nowadays, oil spill is one of the most serious pollutants

that have negative effects on the ecosystem and marine life.

Environmentalists face major challenges in the treatment of

spills and in developing an alternative product with low cost.

Among all different sorbents, agriculture waste is preferred as

an oil cleanup technology due to its biodegradation and

buoyancy.

Environment friendly absorbents for oil spill cleanup have

become popular over the last few years like natural fibers such

as cotton, wheat straws etc. Fruit peel waste (FPW) is

abundantly available from the agricultural and food processing

industry and has been studied in recent past as an absorbent.

FPW has a great potential in waste water treatment due to its

abundant and cheap availability. Pomelo peel (PP), as one of

the well-known agricultural wastes, is cost-effective and

environmental friendly.

This study will investigate the effectiveness of

pomelo peel, a substitutional material from agricultural wastes

as a natural oil spill remediation agent.

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 Statement of the Problem

General Problems:

The study aims to investigate the effectiveness of pomelo

peel as a natural oil spill remediation agent.

Specific Problems:

To test the effectiveness of Pomelo Peel as natural oil

spill remediation in terms of:

a) Amount of oil absorbed

b) Duration of time of absorption

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 Scopes and Delimitations

Scopes

Our study aims to investigate the effectiveness of pomelo

peel, a substitutional material from agricultural wastes as a

natural oil spill remediation agent. The extent of the area of

our study is to test the effectiveness of (PP)in terms of amount

of oil absorb and the duration of time of absorption.

We will use pomelo peel because it is an agricultural waste

and has been studied in recent past as an absorbent. The outer

part of the peel will be separated from the inner, spongy one,

and the latter will be utilized.

Delimitations

The limitations of our study is, it only remove the oil

from seawater specifically the oil in the water surface. It does

not cover the removal of the toxic chemicals/ contaminants in

the water itself.

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Theoretical Framework

Density is defined as mass per unit volume. Weight density

means weight per unit volume. In c.g.s. units, density is in grams

per cubic centimeter. The weight density (seldom used here) would

be in what units? In English engineering practice, it is

customary to specify the weight density; for fresh water this is

about 62 lb/ft3.

Specific Gravity is the ratio of the density of a substance

to the density of water, or it is the ratio of the weight of a

body to the weight of an equal volume of water. Since the density

of water is very close to one gram/cm3 at ordinary temperatures,

density and specific gravity are numerically equal in c.g.s. units.

(Specific gravity, however, does not have dimensions).

Archimedes’ Principle (which is derivable from mechanics)

states that a body immersed in a fluid is buoyed up by a force

equal to the weight of the displaced fluid.

Consider now a body which sinks in water. If its “true”

weight in air is Wa, while its apparent weight is Ww when it is

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hung from the balance by a thread, but submerged in water, then

its buoyancy is (Wa -Ww). This buoyancy is due to a volume of

water equal to the volume of the submerged solid

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 Conceptual Paradigm

1.Preparation of the
materials.
Investigate the 2. Collection and preparation Pomelo peel as an
effectiveness of of the pomelo peel. effective oil
pomelo peel as a spill
3. Drying of the pomelo peel.
natural oil spill remediation.
remediation. 4. Making of the two set-up.

5. Administering of the
product.

6. Measuring of the oil

absorbed.

7.Data collection.

Figure 1. Conceptual Paradigm

The input of this study comprises the effectiveness of pomelo

peel as a natural oil spill remediation, determine the absorption

capacity of the pomelo peel and the duration of the absorption.

The process includes the methods and procedures in

investigating the effectiveness of the pomelo peel as natural oil

spill remediation agent, compare the pomelo peel from commercially

available product in terms of the capacity and duration of

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absorption. Observations and data will be gathered and presented

through statistical analysis specifically One-way Anova.

The output of our study is to know the efficiency of the

pomelo peel as a natural oil spill remediation.

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Assumptions

This study has an alternative hypothesis that there is no

significant difference in the results among the two set-ups. The

researchers expect that the experimental treatment given the

pomelo peel as an oil absorbent will be as effective, or much

more effective than the commercially available oil spill

absorber.

Hypothesis

Ho: There is no significant difference in the results

among the two set-up.

H1 : There is significant difference in the results among

the two set-up.

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Definition of Terms

Oil spill- An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum

hydrocarbon into the marine ecosystem, due to human activity, and

is a form of pollution. The term is usually given to marine oil

spills, where oil is released into the ocean or coastal waters,

but spills may occur on land.

Biodegradation- Biodegradation is the process by which organic

substances are broken down into smaller compounds by enzymes

produced by living microbial organisms in biochemical processes.

Buoyancy- the tendency of a body to float or to rise when submerged

in a fluid.

Efficacy- the quality of being successful in producing an intended

result; effectiveness.

Remediation- the action of remedying something, in particular or

reversing or stopping environmental damage.

Oil Spill Absorbent Pad - are pads and booms that can be quickly

deployed for spill response.

Pomelo- the pomelo Citrus maxima is the largest citrus fruit from

the Rutaceae family.

Peel- the outer covering or rind of a fruit or vegetable.

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 II

Review of Related Literature and Studies

On the study entitled” An environmentally friendly carbon

aerogels derived from waste pomelo peels for the removal of organic

pollutants/oils.” a novel family of biomass-based carbon aerogels

was fabricated through the hydrothermal carbonization, freeze-

drying and pyrolysis process using waste pomelo peels as the

precursors. In this study, it was found out that the carbon

aerogels derived from waste pomelo peels had excellent sorption

ability for a variety of organic pollutants/oils and the sorption

ability dropped slightly as the calcination temperature increased.

In addition, the sorbent could be easily regenerated by simple

physical treatments and kept a high sorption rate after five

sorption-regeneration cycles (Lin Zhu et al.).

As stated by Wenbo Chaia et al., (2015) based on pomelo peel

(PP), two new kinds of oil sorbents were prepared by using acetic

anhydride and styrene. AP and SP has a better oil sorption capacity

than that of RP for diesel and lubricating oil, also SP had better

oil sorption capacity than AP. The results of this study indicated

that AP and SP, especially SP could be used as the substitute for

non-biodegradable oil sorption materials.

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 On the study of Guangyu Shi et al., (2019) oil/water separation

is a field of high significance as it might efficiently resolve

the contamination of industrial oily wastewater and other

oil/water pollution. In this paper, an environmentally-friendly

hydrophobic aerogel with high porosity and low density was

successfully synthesized with renewable pomelo peels (PPs) as

precursors. Typically, a series of sponge aerogels (HPSA-0, HPSA-

1 and HPSA-2) were facilely prepared via high-speed dispersion,

freeze-drying and silanization with methyltrimethoxysilane.

Indeed, the physical properties of aerogel such as density and

pore diameter could be tailored by different additives (filter

paper fibre and polyvinyl alcohol). Hence, their physico-chemical

properties including internal morphology and chemical structure

were characterized in detail by Fourier transform infrared,

Brunauer–Emmett–Teller, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron

microscope, Thermal gravimetric analyzer (TG) etc. Moreover, the

adsorption capacity was further determined and the results

revealed that the PP-based aerogels presented excellent adsorption

performance for a wide range of oil products and/or organic

solvents (crude oil 49.8 g g−1, soya bean oil 62.3 g g−1,

chloroform 71.3 g g−1 etc.). The corresponding cyclic tests showed

the absorption capacity decreased slightly from 94.66% to 93.82%

after 10 consecutive cycles, indicating a high recyclability.

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 In related study of Junchen Zou et al., (2015) magnetic pomelo

peel (MPP) with high oil sorption capacity was prepared by

solvothermal method. The characteristics of MPP were manifested by

FTIR, SEM, XRD, and vibrating sample magnetometry. Adsorption

kinetics and equilibrium of diesel from aqueous solution on MPP

were studied in a batch process. The kinetic studies showed good

correlation coefficients for the pseudo-second-order kinetic

model, and the equilibrium process was well described by the

Freundlich isotherm model. The maximum sorption capacity of MPP

was 27.98 g/g for diesel at 30°C. The results in this study

indicated that MPP was an attractive candidate for removing oil

from aqueous solutions.

On the other study of Junchen Zou et al., (2014) pomelo peel

(PP), was tested for its ability to remove spilled oil from

simulated seawater. The experiments were conducted to evaluate the

oil sorption capacities of PP modified by fatty acids (oleic acid

and stearic acid). The effects of temperature, salinity, and

oscillation frequency on the oil sorption capacity of the PP were

studied in simulated seawater. It was found that the oil sorption

capacity of the PP was greatly enhanced by the surface

modification. The results showed that the PP modified by oleic

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acid had better oil sorption capacity than that treated with

stearic acid. The sorption kinetics of unmodified and modified PP

were well described by the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The

results indicated that PP was an attractive candidate for removing

oily pollutants from seawater.

State of the Art

The reviewed related studies described Pomelo (Citrus maxima)

peel as one of the well-known agricultural wastes, is cost-

effective and environmentally friendly. It was tested as an oil

sorbent and some studies used it as a precursors in absorbing the

oil and treated it with chemicals to increase the rate of

absorption.

Our study is unique because they mostly use chemicals that

may affect the marine life in the process of treating the oil

spill. They used raw pomelo peel without applying any method to

absorb the oil. This study will focus on the capacity of the

pomelo peel in absorbing the oil spill without any additives but

we will apply a method that will increase the rate of

absorption.

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 III

Research Design

Research Design and Treatment

The Static Group Design is applicable in the study. Two

groups will be used but only one will be given the experimental

treatment.

EXPERIMENTAL TREATMENT OBSERVATION

GROUP

CONTROLLED
GROUP
OBSERVATION

Figure 2. Research Design and Treatment

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Procedures

PREPARATION COLLECTION AND

DRYING OF THE
PREPARATION OF
OF THE POMELO PEEL
THE POMELO PEEL
MATERIALS

MEASURING OF ADMINISTERING MAKING OF THE

THE OIL OF THE TWO SET-UP
ABSORBED PRODUCT

DATA
COLLECTION

Figure 3. Methodology

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Preparation of the Materials

Gather and prepare all of the materials which

will be utilized in this study. The primary material

needed are the Pomelo Peel (PP), 2L of crude oil, basin,

commercially available oil spill sorbent, weighing scale ,and

sea water.

Collection and Preparation of the Pomelo Peel

Since the pomelo peel is an agricultural waste, we are

going to ask some pomelo vendors to give us pomelo peel. After

collecting, the outer part of the peel will be separated from

the inner, spongy one.

Drying of the Pomelo Peel

The Pomelo Peel will be placed under the sun and will be

left until it is fully dried. It will later on be cut out to a

certain size following the dimensions of the commercially

available oil spill sorbent.

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Making of the Set-up

There will be two basin and both will be given the same

amount of seawater and crude oil. The first set-up will be the

experimental set-up and the other will be the controlled set-up.

Administering of the Product

The pomelo peel will be weighed according to the mass of

the commercially available oil spill absorbent. The purpose is

to be able to put the exact amount of both products which aim to

remove 1L of crude oil in the sea water set-up. Then, both the

pomelo peel and the commercially available oil spill absorbent

will be placed on the set-up on the same time and timer will be

set to determine the duration of time of each of the products’

absorption.

Measuring of the oil absorbed

The two products (the pomelo peel and commercially

available oil spill absorbent)will be weighed once more after

applying the treatment to determine the oil which was absorbed

by both.

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Data Collection

Table 1. Duration of time of absorption

Duration of time

Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 AVERAGE

Experimental set-

up(PP)

Controlled set-

up(Commercially

available oil spill

absorbent)

This table will show the two sets of data presenting the

result of using pomelo peel (experimental set-up) and the

commercially available oil spill absorbent (controlled set-up).

For each set-up, the table will show results of three trials

indicating the time it took for each set-up to absorb the oil

spilled in the water.

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 Table 2. Mass Of The Product Before And After The

Experimentation

Experimental Controlled set-

set-up(PP) up(Commercially

available oil spill

absorbent)

Mass(Before the Trial 1

Experimentation)
Trial 2

Trial 3

AVERAGE

Mass(After the Trial 1

Experimentation)
Trial 2

Trial 3

AVERAGE

This table will show the masses of the experimental set up

and controlled groups’ materials utilized. Three trials will be

done for each and the average of those will be seen in the table

as well.

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Data Analysis

To analyze the data, we will use One-way Anova to

investigate the effectiveness of the pomelo peel.

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 References

1. Lin Zhu et al., (2016). An environmentally friendly carbon

aerogels derived from waste pomelo peels for the removal of

organic pollutants/oils.

Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.micromeso.2016.12.033

2. Wenbo Chaia et al., (2015). Pomelo peel modified with

acetic anhydride and styrene as new sorbents for removal of oil

pollution.

Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbpol.2015.06.060

3. Guangyu Shi et al., (2019). Controllable synthesis of

pomelo peel-based aerogel and its application in adsorption of

oil/organic pollutants.

Retrieved from:

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsos.181823

4. Junchen Zou et al., (2015). Magnetic pomelo peel as a new

absorption material for oil-polluted water.

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Retrieved from:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19443994.2015.104995

5. Junchen Zou et al., (2014). Sorption of oil from simulated

seawater by fatty acid-modified pomelo peel.

Retrieved from:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271874192_Sorption_of

_oil_from_simulated_seawater by_fatty_acid-

modified_pomelo_peel

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