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Influence of Pluronic coating formulation on iron oxide nanoparticle transport in natural and oil‐impacted sandy aquifer media
Author(s) -
Linley Stuart,
Thomson Neil R.,
McVey Kevin,
Sra Kanwartej,
Gu Frank X.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
the canadian journal of chemical engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.404
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1939-019X
pISSN - 0008-4034
DOI - 10.1002/cjce.23650
Subject(s) - nanoparticle , coating , environmental remediation , iron oxide nanoparticles , materials science , chemical engineering , polymer , porous medium , porosity , nanotechnology , contamination , composite material , ecology , engineering , biology
Targeted delivery of nanoparticles has the potential to enhance remediation and characterization of sites contaminated with non‐aqueous phase liquids (NAPLs) by ensuring delivery of treatment or contrast agents to the NAPL/water interface. For a targeted delivery technique to be successful, nanoparticles must be capable of transporting through porous media and binding to NAPLs under relevant geological conditions. In this study, successful targeted delivery of nanoparticles to sandy aquifer material mixed with crude oil was achieved using an active targeting technique based on an amphiphilic polymer coating. It was determined that the molecular structure and concentration of the nanoparticle coating greatly influenced the recovery of nanoparticles injected into saturated columns. Coatings with longer polymer molecules and lower polymer concentrations reduced recovery, and the nanoparticle coating formulation could be adjusted to improve transport while maintaining targeted binding behaviour. This study demonstrated that nanoparticle retention in oil‐impacted sand exceeded that of clean sand in flow through experiments, indicating that a nanoparticle targeted delivery strategy for soil contaminated with LNAPLs such as crude oil is possible under the experimental conditions explored.