Reclamation of diesel oil from sea water using magnetic Au/Fe2O3 nanocomposites prepared by chemical precipitation

The present work investigates an environmental benignmethod for the separation of diesel fromsea water in oil reservoirs usingAu/Fe2O3 nanocomposites. The Fe2O3 nanoparticles were decoratedwithAu by chemical precipitationmethod to formAu/Fe2O3 nanocomposites. The microstructural characterizations of theAu/Fe2O3 nanocompositewere performed by x-ray diffraction technique, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. The magnetic measurements were done using a magnetometer. The effect ofAu/Fe2O3 dose andAu: Fe2O3 loadingwere estimated fromthe removal efficiency and adsorption capacity at different contact times and nanocomposite concentrations. The microstructural results showed that Fe2O3 nanoparticles were 20-30nmin size andwere uniformly distributed over the Au layer. It was observed that nanocomposite shows higher efficiency (98%) at an Au: Fe2O3 ratio of 1: 8 with 0.4 g l(-1) of water-oil concentration compared to the pure Au adsorbent. The adsorption kinetic studies suggestedfirst and second order pseudo-kineticmodels. This separation method usingmagneticAu/Fe2O3 can be potential and alternative way of extraction of diesel fromsea water.