Synthesis of modified silica aerogel nanoparticles for remediation of vietnamese crude oil spilled on water

New application of modified silica aerogel nanoparticles was carried out for adsorption of Vietnamese spilled crude oil obtained from Bach-Ho field. The aerogel was synthesized by atmospheric drying method without critical extraction procedure in liquefied CO₂ followed by surface modification using polydimethylsiloxane precursor in n-hexane solvent. The synthesis mixture contained precise amounts of water, tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS), ethanol and HCl with volume ratios of 2:1:4:0.0003, respectively. The modification was established by the mixing of the as-synthesized aerogel and polydimethylsiloxane followed by calcination at 350 °C for 4 h obtaining the surface modified aerogel. The modified aerogel was applied in the adsorption of the spilled crude oil in mild temperature and atmospheric pressure. Some techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area analysis (BET) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) were used for characterizing the materials. (author)