ABSTRACT
This article discusses the unique properties and performance of carbon-based molecularly-imprinted polymers (MIPs) for detecting hazardous pollutants in aqueous solutions. Although MIPs have several advantages such as specific recognition sites, selectivity, and stability, they suffer from a series of drawbacks, including loss of conductivity, electrocatalytic activity, and cost, which limit their use in various fields. Carbon-based MIPs, which utilize carbon electrodes, carbon nanoparticles, carbon dots, carbon nanotubes, and graphene substrates, have been the focus of research in recent years to enhance their properties and remove their weaknesses as much as possible. These carbon-based nanomaterials have excellent sensitivity and specificity for molecular identification. As a result, they have been widely used in various applications, such as assessing the environmental, biological, and food samples. This article examines the growth of carbon-based MIPs and their environmental applications.
Subject(s)
Environmental Pollutants , Graphite , Molecular Imprinting , Nanotubes, Carbon , Graphite/chemistry , Molecularly Imprinted Polymers , Nanotubes, Carbon/chemistry , Polymers/chemistry , WaterABSTRACT
Surfactant flooding is one of the most promising chemical enhanced oil recovery (CEOR) methods to produce residual oil in reservoirs. Recently, nanoparticles (NPs) have attracted extensive attention because of their significant characteristics and capabilities to improve oil recovery. The aim of this study is to scrutinize the synergistic effect of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) as an anionic surfactant and aluminum oxide (Al2O3) on the efficiency of surfactant flooding. Extensive series of interfacial tension and surfactant adsorption measurements were conducted at different concentrations of SDS and Al2O3 NPs. Furthermore, different surfactant adsorption isotherm models were fitted to the experimental data, and constants for each model were calculated. Additionally, oil displacement tests were performed at 25 °C and atmospheric pressure to indicate the suitability of SDS-Al2O3 for CEOR. Analysis of this study shows that the interfacial tension (IFT) reduction between aqueous phase and crude oil is enhanced considerably by 76%, and the adsorption density of SDS onto sandstone rock is decreased remarkably from 1.76 to 0.49 mg/g in the presence of these NPs. Although the effectiveness of NPs gradually increases with the increase of their concentration, there is an optimal value of Al2O3 NP concentration. Moreover, oil recovery was increased from 48.96 to 64.14% by adding 0.3 wt % NPs to the surfactant solution, which demonstrates the competency of SDS-Al2O3 nanofluids for CEOR.