Hydrocarbons Removal from Contaminated Water by Using Expanded Graphite Sorbents

Every[aut]Kodrik Ivanovich, Anatoly year[aut]Nikulin Fedorovich, Alexander more[aut]Titenko Nikolaevich, Alexander than[aut]Kirchu, Fedor ~0.6 MT of[aut]Sementsov, Yurii oil[aut]Ivanenko, Kateryna is[aut]Grebel’na, Yuliia discharged[aut]Pokropivny, Alex in[aut]Vaseashta, Ashok ocean waters. Consequently, considerable amount of oil contaminantsContaminants is found in and near water surface, which have a great impact on the world ocean ecologyEcology. This chapter describes ways to clean oil and oil containing contaminantsContaminants at and near the surface of water and in events, when there is an underwater leak caused by natural fractures, leaks or mining accidents. An effective sorbentSorbent consisting of expanded graphiteExpanded graphite (EG) is proposed, which can be used as good sorbentSorbent, not only for cleaning oil pollutionPollution, but also as filter, since it has bulk density as low as 4 kg/m3, noting that and 1 g EG has specific surface ~80 m2, which binds ~80 g of oil or petrol. Physical and chemical properties of EG, as a sorbentSorbent, are analyzed in comparison with activated carbon. Furthermore, since drinking waterDrinking water supplied through corroded pipes is of poor quality, conventional filters clog quickly. Therefore, filters using EG can be used efficiently in the first stage of cleaning. Mobile equipment for producing EG onsite of accidents is described. The equipment consists of several structural units: gas supply unit, burner unit, graphite feed unit, reaction chamber, separation and output units. The reaction chamber was designed, such that a standing vortex is formed, by which there is a thermal shock and additional expansion of unopened graphite particles. Automation and simulation of the combustion process in the chamber has shown to improve the quality of EG, which reduces equipment dimensions and enhance efficiency.