A new oil adsorption method called adsorption filtration (AF) has been developed. It is a technology where by oil residues can be cleaned from water by running it through a simple filter made from ...freeze treated, dried, milled and then fragmented plant material. By choosing suitable plants and fragmentation sizes it is possible to produce filters, which pass water but adsorb oil.
The aim of this study was to investigate the possibilities of manufacturing oil adsorbing filter materials from reed canary grass (
Phalaris arundinacea), flax (
Linum usitatissimum L.) or hemp fibre (
Cannabis sativa L.). The oil (80 ml) was mixed with de-ionised water (200 ml) and this mixture was filtered through 10 or 20 g adsorption filters. Fine spring harvested hemp fibre (diameter less than 1 mm) and reed canary grass fragments adsorb 2–4 g of oil per gram of adsorption material compared to 1–3 g of water. Adsorption filtration is thus a novel way of gathering spilled oil in shallow coastal waters before the oil reaches the shore.
Bast fibre plants are attracting increasing attention in Europe, and the plant straw fractions have already been used as a raw material in many new applications. This study focuses on characterising ...the liquid–fibre interactions of frost-retted and unretted bast fibre plant (
Linum usitatissimum L. and
Cannabis sativa L.) straw fractions. A novel approach was used in order to overcome the problems introduced by the surface heterogeneity in contact angle measurements. First, the wicking rates of water, oil and ethanol in plant straw fractions were measured with a capillary rise method. The results were compared with the results calculated from the Lucas–Washburn equation. Second, the wetting properties of a compressed sample were studied by measuring the contact angle of a liquid. Third, the absorption time of a liquid droplet on a compressed sample was measured. Fibre hemp absorbed water better than flax/linseed. After 100 s the difference was about one order of magnitude. For oil the differences were marginal. Wicking and wetting turned out to be very rapid even when the measured (static) contact angle was almost 90°. Big variations in dynamic contact angle calculated from wicking measurements were observed. The wicking rates and droplet absorption times give suitable information when selecting fibre plant straw fractions as raw materials for new industrial products. On the contrary, a droplet based contact angle measurement does not give useful information of dynamic wetting behaviour.
The aims of this study were to determine the phytotoxicity of stored rapeseed (Brassica rapa) oil (RSO) and rapeseed oil methyl ester (RME) after "spill like" contamination on the growth of barley ...(Hordeum vulgare) and the biodegradability of these substances in OECD 301F test conditions and in ground water. Rapeseed oil and rapeseed oil methyl ester were both stored for a period of time and their fuel characteristics (e.g. acid number) had changed from those set by the fuel standards and are considered to have an effect on its biodegradation. The phytotoxicity was tested using two different types of barley cultivars: Saana and Vilde. The phytotoxic effect on the barley varieties was determined, after the growth season, by measuring the total biomass growth and the mass of 1000 kernels taken from the tests plots. Also visual inspection was used to determine what the effects on the barley growth were. These measurements suggest that both RSO and RME have a negative impact on barley sprouts and therefore the total growth of the barley. RSO and RME both decreased the total amount of harvested phytomass. The weight of 1000 kernels increased with low concentrations of these contaminants and high contamination levels reduced the mass of the kernels. The results of these experiments suggest that the stored rapeseed oil and rapeseed oil methyl ester are both phytotoxic materials and therefore will cause substantial loss of vegetation in the case of a fuel spill. The RSO and RME biodegraded effectively in the measurement period of 28 days under OECD test conditions: the degree of biodegradation being over 60%. The biodegradation in the ground water was much slower: the degree of biodegradation being about 10% after 28 days.;
This preliminary study of the equilibrium moisture content (EMC) of bast fibre plants (Linum usitatissimum L. and Cannabis sativa L.) examines three fractions, fibre, fine shive and coarse shive. The ...plants were harvested at two times, the first in autumn and the second in spring. The autumn harvest yielded unretted, green material, while the frost-retted material harvested in spring may be classified as overretted. Interesting differences in EMC were found in the dampest air between the two harvest times irrespective of plant species: green fractions were faster to mould at the beginning and lost more weight in the 2-week test period than did the frost-retted samples. The green samples also attained higher EMCs before beginning to mould.
A new oil adsorption method called adsorption filtration (AF) has been developed. It is a technology where by oil residues can be cleaned from water by running it through a simple filter made from ...freeze treated, dried, milled and then fragmented plant material. By choosing suitable plants and fragmentation sizes it is possible to produce filters, which pass water but adsorb oil. The aim of this study was to investigate the possibilities of manufacturing oil adsorbing filter materials from reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea), flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) or hemp fibre (Cannabis sativa L.). The oil (80 ml) was mixed with de-ionised water (200 ml) and this mixture was filtered through 10 or 20 g adsorption filters. Fine spring harvested hemp fibre (diameter less than 1 mm) and reed canary grass fragments adsorb 2-4 g of oil per gram of adsorption material compared to 1-3 g of water. Adsorption filtration is thus a novel way of gathering spilled oil in shallow coastal waters before the oil reaches the shore.
Harvesting of flax and hemp fibres in normal time in autumn often meets with special problems in the Nordic circumstances. These are mainly due to the short growing period and the cold and rainy ...period in autumn. The risk of formation of mold spores inside the harvested fibre plant bales is obvious (1). Even though the bales are dried in bale driers there is enough time for the molds to destroy the quality of the raw material. This is caused by both the slow drying process and the high microbiological activity of the moist material (3). This is the reason why the new Dry-line-method (2) is under research. Briefly the dry-line-method means:
The frost affects fibre plants in Northern circumstances. In springtime the temperature is changing daily above and below the zero. This leads to the enlarging movement which is resulted from the frozen water and which is varying in different plant cell structures. When this takes place repeatly several times the movement also loose the bast fibre from the stem. Also the fibre yield was measured after processing raw material with different methods.
The demand for energy when processing of the plant material was being reduced drasticly when compared to unretted or dew retted material. For the second, the yield of the processed fibre from the plant raw material was higher compared to material which was not frozen. The latter is due to both the higher loss of shives before and during the processing as well as the better separation of fibre and shives during and after the processing.
PDF
