Jenson Clyde D.

Collarte

John Russel A. Jandonero

Josh Levin M. Lopez

The Efficiency of Palm Fibers and Coconut Husk as Oil Spill Absorbents.

CHAPTER 1

Rationale

An oil spill is an accidental or intentional discharge of oil which floats on

a body of water. Although it rarely happens in the Philippines, it can cause

many problems, ranging from ruining a day at a beach, to compromising a

portion of the country’s profit. An example of an oil spill would be the

Guimaras Incident. On August 11, 2006, Solar 1, an oiler tanker hired by the

Petron Corporation, sank off the coast of Guimaras, an island province in the

Philippines, and spilled more than 2.1 liters of bunker fuel. It is still known as

the worst oil spill that happened in the Philippines. The issue impacted 1,500

hectares (more than 3,700 acres) of the local ecology, which includes

mangroves, seagrass, and coral reefs, according to the Department of

Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). Not only that, the affected

areas, like the Taklong Island Marine Natural Reserve (TINMR) was a

breeding ground for fishes and fishing areas for the local fishermen. When the

oil spill happened, it contaminated the waters, killed majority of the fishes, and

ended the livelihood of many fishermen. Cleaning oil spills is a very hard task,

during this incident many international non-profit organizations, government

agencies, institutions and even the local folks helped in cleaning the spill. The

methods they used consisted of manual oil removal, mechanical oil removal,

vacuuming and many more, which cost the Government of Guimaras billions
of pesos. In this study, we aim to find two local materials which are capable of

absorbing oil, and find which of these two materials is more efficient at

absorbing Oil Spills

Statement of The Problem

This research attempts to find evidence whether the coconut husk or

palm fiber is more effective in absorbing oils. More specifically, it seeks to find

the answers to the following questions:

1. Which is more effective in absorbing oils?

a. Coconut Husk

b. Palm Fibers

2. How much can the Palm Fibers and the Coconut Husk absorb?

3. What is the absorption rate of the Palm Fibers and the Coconut Husk?

4. Are there any differences in using Palm Fibers or Coconut Husk?

Hypothesis

H a 1: The Palm fibers can absorb oil much faster than the Coconut Husk

H a 2: The Coconut husk absorb oil much faster than the Palm fibers.

H a 3: The Palm fibers can absorb much more oil than the Coconut husk

H a 4 : The Coconut husk absorb much more oil than the Palm fibers.

H 0 1 : There are no significant differences between Coconut Husk and Palm

Fibers
H 0 2: Both the coconut husk and palm fibers cannot absorb the oil.

Scope and Limitation

This study is an applied research that aims to find the differences

between the Palm Fibers and Coconut husk. The researchers will test these

materials in order to determine how fast these materials can absorb the oils.

The researchers would also like to find out how much oil these materials can

absorb. The Palm fibers and Coconut husk needed for this research will be

harvested near the Research Environment. Additionally, the oil and water

used will be properly disposed and the researchers will only pick fallen husks

and shed palm fibers in order to preserve and keep the tree safe and healthy.

Significance of the Study

Oil spills are very hard to clean, taking a full year to resolve, or even

more years when they are in large quantities. Not only is it dangerous to

marine life and the livelihood of farmers, cleaning it comes at a very high cost.

This study will compare two materials; Palm Fibers and Coconut husk, and

find which would be more efficient and practical to use in an Oil Spill Incident.

The researchers chose these materials because they are both used in Oil

Spills, the country is rich when it comes to these materials, it is a sustainable

alternative to chemical absorption, and it doesn’t cost any money or sold at a

very cheap price.

Conceptual Framework

The focus of this study is to determine the efficiency of palm fibers and

coconut husk as oil spill absorbents. The researchers aim is to know the

efficiency of palm fibers and coconut husk when used as oil spill absorbers.

Definition of Terms

The following are the terms used in this study:

Palm Fibers are the split leaves of a palm used for thatching, weaving,

or rope making.

Coconut Husks are the rough exterior shells of the coconut. While the

husks are not used for food, like the meat and liquid found within the exterior

shell, the husk can be used in several ways, including creating enriched

potting soil and as chips that can be used to provide ground cover for flower

beds. It is possible to purchase mass produced husk products or create the

products at home using the shells of fresh coconuts.

 Oil Spill is referred to the leakage of petroleum onto the surface of a

large body of water. Oceanic oil spills became a major environmental problem

in the 1960s, chiefly as a result of intensified petroleum exploration and

production on continental shelves and the use of supertankers capable of

transporting more than 500,000 metric tons of oil.

Absorbent a material having capacity or tendency to absorb another

substance.

Review of Related Literature and Studies

This chapter outlines the literature review and studies that are relevant

to the current investigation. It also includes a full exploration of the

connections between all of the concepts and hypotheses explored in this

research.

Related Literature

Coconut husks are the outermost parts of Coconuts that are extracted

when processing to extract Coconut milk, Coconut oil, and other products.

The fiber is hard and long lasting, with many uses in crafts. When burnt they

can be used as fuel for example in a furnace. The husk can also be shredded

into a useful filter material for fish tanks or domestic water filters where sand

or activated charcoal is not suitable. It is also possible to grow into a new

coconut tree from the husk which will grow faster than a regular coconut tree

due to part of its life cycle being skipped.

 The coconut husk is also a natural, inexpensive, readily-available,

environmentally-friendly agricultural waste, is an excellent methylene blue

adsorbent. It could provide an alternative way to adsorb oil as some oil

absorbers are not cheap.

Palm fibers are the lightweight, filaments produced by the palm trees of

the genus Aceraceae. They are found on most leaves of these plants and

serve as their primary defense mechanism against herbivores. The fibers on

this type of palm contain beta-carotene which is turned into vitamin A during

photosynthesis. Palm leaf fibers are used in a variety of applications, including

textiles and construction. They are utilized to make ropes, sticks, supporting

beams, and roof coverings in their specific range.

Palm fibers are also utilized as adsorbents in the cleanup of oil spills.

The fibers' adsorption capacity was observed to be increasing with time, oil

layer thickness, temperature, and particle size, but decrease with adsorbent

mass.

Oil is a chemical substance that is used as a fuel, to create energy, to

move cars, and for a few other applications. Some oils are in reservoirs under

the earth or on the ocean floor. Oils have a high carbon and hydrogen

content, are combustible, and have a high surface activity. And because of

this, oil can be harmful when it goes into the water resources. Animals can be

harmed by oil spills. They make seafood unsafe to consume and, more

importantly, cleaning them up takes time.

Oil spills are more than just a major environmental catastrophe. They

can also lead to long-lasting, expensive problems for the environment and

people trying to repair the damage. When oil is spilled on land or in water,
neither of these two environments can act quickly enough to clean it up within

one year's time. The combination of oil and oxygen creates an oxidization

reaction that destroys any living organism that would try to clean it up. And

dead organisms don't decompose like normal matter does, so the oily mixture

becomes permanently toxic on Earth's surface without any natural process

acting on it.

Related Studies

There are studies that have been conducted that are all about the

absorption of coconut husk and palm fibers to oil spills. These studies provide

information on the effectiveness of coconut husk and palm fibers in absorbing

oil spills.

Augustine Ifelebuegu (2015) conducted a study which is an evaluation of

the adsorptive properties of coconut husk for oil spill cleanup. This study talks

about how the coconut coir absorb the vegetable oil and diesel fuel from the

seawater. According to him, while coconut husk has good oil adsorption

characteristics, it also has a high-water absorbency, which could be a limiting

factor in field use.

Ola Abdelwahab et al. (2017) conducted a study that is all about palm

fibers and modified palm fibers adsorbents for different oils. The study stated

that palm fibers were used as a natural sorbent for oil spill removal. The study

also stated that the sorption effectiveness and capacity of raw and modified
fibers for three types of oil are investigated in the study: diesel oil, crude oil,

and vegetable oil. The efficiency of fibers in removing various types of oil from

artificial saline water was found to be related to sorption time as well as

system variables such as oil film thickness, particle size, sorbent dosage, and

temperature. The findings of their study revealed that palm fibers have a high

sorption efficiency and capacity for various types of oil.

Research Methodology

I. Research Design

The researcher used descriptive research design in collecting the data

since the researchers' aim is to know if the coconut husk is more effective

than palm fiber or vice versa for the absorption of the oil. This design is

recommended since it addresses how, what, which, when, and how much

questions. An experimental research is meticulously planned to guarantee

that the scenario is accurately described, that data collecting is free of bias,

and that data interpretation mistakes are minimized.

II. Research Environment

The locale of the study is in the house of the researcher, which is located

in Subabasbas, Lapu-Lapu City.

III. Research Instruments

The instruments used in this study are coconut husks, palm fibers, water,

different kinds of oil, and containers.

The coconut husks, palm fibers, and the kinds of oil are the most

important instruments for the study. These instruments would be used to

determine if the coconut husk or palm fiber is more effective in the absorption

of oil.

The third instrument used in this research is water. The water is mixed

with the oil, and then the researchers will put the coconut husk or palm fiber

into it.
 The fourth instrument is the container. The researchers will put the mixed

water and oil and the coconut husk or palm fiber into it. The researchers will

have two containers, one for the coconut husk and one for the palm fiber.

IV. Research Participants

This research study does not have any participants.

V. Research Procedure

After the instruments are gathered, the researchers proceed to start the

experiment. The research data will be gathered during the experimentation

stage. The researchers will first get the two containers filled with water with

the same amount, and then the researchers will put the oil with the same

amount in both containers. Then the researchers will put the coconut husk on

one container and the palm fiber on another container and wait for about 10–

20 minutes to see if the coconut husk or the palm fiber absorbs the oil faster.