Application of Oleic acid functionalized Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles for adsorption of oil from emulsified solutions

In this work, magnetite was synthesized via co-precipitation method and modified with different amounts for oleic acid (x=0.5 and 2 mL) in seeking to understand the adsorption capability of oil for potential wastewater treatment usage. The morphology and chemical structure of the OA-coated Fe3O4nanoadsorbents were characterized by FT-IR, XRD, SEM, TEM, VSM, ASAP and MTT assay for the cytotoxicity test. Successful coating was confirmed by FTIR and showed COO- groups within the spectra. An increase in the amount of OA leads to the decrease in magnetization but still demonstrated a superparamagnetic property for an easy recovery. Grain size was evaluated, and was found out to be in the range of 8-10nm. The adsorbent is well fitted on the Langmuir model suggesting a monolayer adsorption. Regarding the adsorption kinetics, the adsorbent follows the pseudo second order with high R2= 0.98. The nanoadsorbent exhibited a high cell viability rate signifying low toxicity. Therefore, the synthesized nanoparticle is a good candidate for broad environmental applications as such for oil/water emulsion separations as shown in this study.