Sorption and recovery of heavy oils by using exfoliated graphite Part I: Maximum sorption capacity

Abstract

The sorption behavior of four heavy oils with different viscosities into exfoliated graphites with different bulk densities was studied. The maximum sorption capacity of exfoliated graphite at 25°C was found to be very high — 83 g of grade A heavy oil per 1 g of exfoliated graphite with a bulk density of 0.006 g/cm³, and also its sorption occurs very rapidly — within 1 min. Sorption capacity depended strongly on bulk density and pore volume of exfoliated graphite, and the time to reach maximum sorption as well as sorption capacity for an exfoliated graphite also depended on the grade of heavy oil used. The present work showed that exfoliated graphite with low bulk density is a promising material for the sorption of heavy oils.