Usefulness of raw bagasse for oil absorption: A comparison of raw and acylated bagasse and their components Abd El-Aziz A. Said a , Adriane G. Ludwick b , Heshmat A. Aglan b, * a Sugar Technology Research Institute, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt b Mechanical Engineering Department, Tuskegee University, 218 Foster Hall, Tuskegee, AL 36088, USA article info Article history: Received 10 July 2008 Received in revised form 16 September 2008 Accepted 20 September 2008 Available online 22 November 2008 Keywords: Raw bagasse Grafted bagasse Oil absorption abstract Raw bagasse or sugar cane cellulosic residues were modified using acylation grafting with fatty acid. The capability of the grafted bagasse to absorb oil from aqueous solution was studied and compared with the raw bagasse. It was found that the grafted material was significantly more hydrophobic than the raw bagasse. This grafted bagasse had little affinity for water and good affinity for oil. It was also found that bleaching of raw bagasse did not enhance its oil absorptivity. The grafted raw bagasse would be most suitable for applications where oil is to be removed from an aqueous environment. For oil absorbing applications in the absence of water, the raw bagasse was an excellent material. Ó 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The importance of systematic utilization of bagasse or sugar cane cellulosic residues has been noted in the past decade. Envi- ronmental concerns have fueled this focus not only because of the quantity of bagasse produced annually but also because of the nature of the material (Almazan et al., 1998; Ritter, 2007; Ar- naud, 2008). The growth of the sugar cane plant is remarkably effi- cient photosynthetically. The sugar product from this plant represents only thirteen percent of the biomass. Bagasse from su- gar production is twenty eight percent of the biomass (Almazan et al., 1998). These numbers vary depending on the source of the sugar cane, as well as on the interpretation of an author. Even so, huge amounts of bagasse are and will continue to be generated and the utilization of this material is of growing importance. The use of bagasse in the production of paper products is becoming increasingly more important (Taylor, 2000; World Centric, 2008). While ethanol as a biofuel is currently produced from corn in the United States and from a sugar solution in Brazil, the use of bagasse for ethanol production instead has received considerable invest- ment by major international chemical companies during this past year (McCoy, 2007, 2008). Bagasse has also received attention in the construction industry (Youngquist et al., 1996; Golbabaie, 2006). The study of bagasse as an absorbent of environmental pol- lutants has also received attention recently (Khan et al., 2004; Lee and Rowell, 2004; Igwe and Abia, 2006; Abia and Asuquo, 2006; Nada and Hassan, 2006; Deschamps et al., 2003; Hussein et al., 2008; Ludwick et al., 2002, 2005). Heavy metals are attracted to modified bagasse. These modifications are relatively simple pro- cesses that could be expanded to a pilot scale and then to full production. Oil pollution remains a serious concern. Regulations (US EPA, 2008) have done much to prevent oil waste contamination during transport on the open seas. The Clean Water Act of the USA pro- vides a model for an approach to achieve an environmentally safe water system (Davenport, 1992; Kenney, 2006). These national and international regulations have been evaluated periodically so as to maintain their viability (Davenport, 1992; Kenney, 2006; GEF/ UNDP/IMO, 2008). When oil pollution does occur, the issue is not only the cleaning of the environment but also recovery of this pre- cious commodity. Hence any oil absorbing material used must also be able to release the oil. Current studies examine not only oil absorbing properties of materials but also the ability to recycle of these materials (Deschamps et al., 2003; Hussein et al., 2008). In the present work, raw bagasse was modified using acylation graft- ing with fatty acid. The capability of the grafted bagasse to absorb oil from aqueous solution was studied and compared with the raw bagasse. 2. Experimental 2.1. Materials Bagasse consists mainly of cellulose and lignin (Fig. 1a and b, respectively). In the current study the raw bagasse was obtained 0960-8524/$ - see front matter Ó 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2008.09.060 * Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 334 727 8857; fax: +1 334 727 8090. E-mail address: aglanh@tuskegee.edu (H.A. Aglan). Bioresource Technology 100 (2009) 2219–2222 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Bioresource Technology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/biortech