The liquid phase sorption characteristics of human hair were
studied to determine its potential for oil spill cleanup. Type A hair
(Asian origin), Type B hair (European origin) and Type C hair
(African origin) were evaluated for their adsorption characteristics
in crude oil, vegetable oil and diesel fuel. Type C showed the
highest adsorption capacity followed by Type A and then Type B.
All hair types showed more affinity for vegetable oil than crude oil
and diesel fuel. Type C hair, which performed better than others
had a sorption capacity of 7302, 5450 and 5070 mg/g for vegetable
oil, crude oil and diesel fuel, respectively. This improved to a
maximum of 9300, 8100 and 7917 mg/g, respectively, when Type C
hair was modified by pulverising to fine powder. The sorption
process followed a second order kinetics and showed a better fit to
the Freundlich adsorption isotherms, indicating elements of
chemisorption and oil retention occurring on heterogeneous sites
with a non-uniform distribution of energy. Sorption capacities
were also found to decrease with increasing temperature. The
results of the work show that human hair has a potential for use as
a low-cost adsorbent for oil spill cleanup and can be reused several
times without significant deterioration in sorption characteristics.