Recovery of green solvent contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons by selective adsorption onto granular activated carbon

Abstract

Ethyl lactate (EL) has served as a promising green solvent for oil extraction from drill cuttings wastes. Its high commercial price and huge volume consumption currently pose a constraint regarding operational costs and environmental burdens. Therefore, this work aims to propose the adsorption by granular activated carbon (GAC) as a facile method for recycling the spent EL contaminated with oil. The results from batch experiments revealed that the adsorption of oil in EL was favorable and endothermic, reaching the maximum oil adsorptive capacity of 1053 mg g