Which Homemade Absorbent Works Best to Clean Up Oil?
Colby Geisinger and Keegan Fouse
7 th
Grade Physical Science 7-O
Mr. Kizuka
1/29/10

The experiment was a success. The powdered laundry detergent worked the best and the paper towels worked the worst. The other materials fell somewhere in between. The whole experiment went well and not anything unexpected happened. Everything went according to plan. The measuring system of the experiment was changed a little but not much. The entire process of testing all of the absorbents took about an hour. It was a nice day to do the experiment and it was done outside on flat ground. The outcomes show that household items can clean up a minor oil spill. Only 25 ml of oil was used and the powdered laundry detergent absorbed all of the oil. This experiment showed that if an oil spill does occur there is always a few household items that do a great job to clean up the spill.
Abstract

Which Homemade Absorbent Works Best to Clean Up Oil?
Five different absorbents will be made to clean up oil and see which creation works the best. The controlled variables will be the amount of oil that will be used each time the experiment is tested. The experiment will be performed on a hard, flat surface outdoors and the surface will be a flat tray or pan that keeps the oil in the same area. The same amount of oil will be used on a flat surface to see if the absorbents can clean it up.
The observation will be which absorbent works the best to absorb the oil. Each absorbent will be tested three times to make sure that the results stay consistent. Topics to research will be the types of materials and how the materials work when cleaning up oil. The internet will be used to do most of the research. Finding out if the absorbents used in the experiment really do work to clean up oil will be interesting.
Background Information
Cleaning up an oil spill
Contain the oil spill to reduce the spreading of the oil because if it is not it could end up being an even bigger problem causing distress in the environment. Use the proper absorbents depending on the situation. Such as if on land or in water. Safely disposing of the absorbents is very important. Either sweep up and throw away the absorbents or take them to a township hazardous waste disposal center so no incidents will occur.
Absorbents

If powdered laundry detergent is sprinkled on the oil it can reduce and absorb the oil making it a lot easier to clean up. Kitty litter will also absorb the oil very well. Salt along with the kitty litter and the powdered laundry detergents will also reduce the size of the oil spill by absorbing it. Flour will act like the powdered laundry detergent by sprinkling it over top and reducing the size of the oil spill it will also help to absorb the oil. Paper towels will wipe up the oil and absorb the oil but still not as well as the other absorbents.
Disposal of absorbents
It is good to wait until the kitty litter is fully absorbed and then sweep it up. After that the absorbent can be disposed of or thrown away. Paper towels and rags should be put in a can and then submerged in water. Then close the lid so that it is closed very tight.
After doing that take it to the township hazardous waste disposal center. Most of the absorbents can be swept up and thrown away. Some of the absorbents must be disposed of in a different way though. If not disposed of properly a possible explosion and other things may occur.
Safety around oil
Oil can also affect a person’s health. Especially if someone has allergic reactions to it. Oil is also very slippery. That is why it should be cleaned immediately and effectively. If a spill is let go for too long someone easily could slip and fall and possibly become injured. Oil is also an extremely flammable liquid. If an oil spill is not properly and immediately cleaned up it could possibly be the fuel for a fire or maybe even worse.
Information about oil

Oil is a very flammable and hazardous liquid and that if it is not treated properly it could very easily cause a fire. That could result in things as bad as burns of people or objects nearby. If oil is left go for too long it could easily cause a stain. That is why it is so important to clean the oil up immediately or as soon as possible because it will stain very quickly. Oil is a very hazardous and dangerous material. If the oil is not handled very carefully and properly it can be very harmful to a person’s health and objects that may be around it. Oil is also an organic source. Oil can be found in nature all across the world as an organic source.
Hypothesis
This experiment is about making homemade absorbents to clean up oil and see if they work. The oil will be put into a flat pan and then cleaned up by the absorbents. Five different absorbents will be made to clean up the oil. The independent variable will be the absorbents that are being made for this experiment. The dependent variable will be how much oil is absorbed or cleaned up by the absorbents. The controlled variable will be the amount of oil used each time the experiment is tested. At least one of the absorbents will do very well when trying to clean up the oil. This will prove that something simple can be made to clean up oil.
Materials

Oil

Absorbents o Kitty litter o Powdered laundry detergent o Salt o Flour o Paper towels


Oil pan

25 ml measuring cup

Notebook

Pencil
Procedures
1.
Measure 25 ml of oil.
2.
Put the oil in the pan.
3.
Place or dump an absorbent on the oil.
4.
Test each absorbent 3 times.
5.
Measure the oil again after testing in milliliters.
6.
Subtract the 25 ml from the new measurement of oil left to get how many milliliters that the absorbent soaked up.
7.
Record how much oil was absorbed.
8.
Repeat steps 1-7 until all absorbents are used.
Results and Data
The results supported the hypothesis very well because the hypothesis was that the absorbents being used would work very well to clean up the oil and all of the absorbents used did that. All of the measurements of the other tested variables were within about 5mL of each other. The powdered laundry detergent absorbed the most. It absorbed 25mL out of 25mL of oil. Not a drop of oil was left. The kitty litter absorbed
24mL which was also a good result. The paper towels also did well by absorbing 23mL of oil. The flour then absorbed 20mL out of the 25mL of oil. The salt which absorbed the least absorbed 19 out of 25mL of oil. The powdered laundry detergent worked the best out of the five absorbents and the salt worked the worst. Some of the observations that were made were very similar. Nothing bad happened to affect the outcome of the experiment. The powdered laundry detergent and the kitty litter cleaned up the oil very

effectively and very quickly. The salt absorbed a fair amount of oil but there was still oil that was easily visible. The flour was the most interesting because when it absorbed the oil it became very sticky, and became a jelly like substance that left a little oil behind.
The paper towels were very effective with pressure being applied to the oil. Most of the trials were the same and almost the same results occurred each time the absorbents were tested. No unplanned variables affected the experiment. No problems occurred but minor changes were made. Instead of measuring the absorbents in grams on a triple beam balance before and after testing the absorbent it was changed so that 25mL of oil was used each time and then checked how much oil was left in milliliters after the experiment to see how much oil was absorbed.
Table 1 Amount of Oil Absorbed
Absorbents
Kitty Litter
Powdered Laundry
Detergent
Salt
Flour
Paper Towels
Trial
1
Trial
2
Trial
3
24 24 24
Average
(mL)
24
25
20
22
23
25
22
19
23
25
15
21
24
25
19
20
23

mL
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
24 24 24 24
25 25 25 25
20
22
15
19
22
19
21
20
23 23
24
23
Kitty Litter Powdered
Laundry
Detergent
Salt Flour Paper Towels
Trial 1
Trial 2
Trial 3
Average
Absorbents
Figure 1 Amount of Oil Absorbed
Paper Towels
23
24
23
23
Flour
Salt
15
19
20
21
22
19
20
22
Powdered Laundry
Detergent
Kitty Litter
24
24
24
24
25
25
25
25
Average
Trial 3
Trial 2
Trial 1
0 5 10 15 mL
20 25 30
Figure 2 Amount of Oil Absorbed

Conclusion
The hypothesis stated that one or more of the absorbents would do very well to clean up oil and all of the absorbents worked very well in the experiment. The hypothesis supported the data because a lot of the absorbents did very well to clean the oil up. The data supported the hypothesis because the hypothesis was that most of the absorbents would work very well to absorb the oil, and about every time they did absorb most of the oil. These results occurred because all the absorbents were researched and known to be able to absorb fluids. The powdered laundry detergent absorbed more oil than any other absorbent and the salt absorbed the least amount of oil out of all of the absorbents. The materials were also in a confined space so they couldn’t spread, that way the powders could be sprinkled over all of the oil. If someone ever spills oil there is usually a household item that cleans up small spills very well. If there is ever a small oil spill anywhere within a building or out of a building there are some very effective household items that would work to clean up the oil spill. The best choice to clean up the oil would be the powdered laundry detergent. If this experiment was done again more oil would be used to really see how well the absorbents work and to see if different absorbent work better when dealing with more oil. The only changes made were the measuring system.
Instead of measuring the mass in grams the oil was measured in milliliters before and after the experiment. The results really supported the hypothesis and the experiment proves that everyday items will work to clean up a small oil spill.

References
“Hazards.”
Http://cameochemicals.noaa.gov/chemical/12159 . NOAA. Office of
Response and Restoration, NOAA’s Ocean Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, n.d. Web. 21 November 2009.
“Oil spill responder safety guide, Management control of spill safety.”
Www.porttechnology.org/article.php?id=4119 . Edition 44. B & W Aumund Group, n.d.
Web. 21 November 2009.
“Oil spill clean up.”
Www.epa.gov/landscience/quickfinder/oilspill-cleanup.htm
. Land
Research Program. United States Environmental Protection Agency, n.d. Web. 21
November 2009.
“Used Oil Disposal.” Web.princeton.edu/sites/ehs/chemwaste/oil.htm. Environmental
Health and Safety. Princeton University, n.d. Web. 21 November 2009.
Acknowledgements
Thanks a lot to Mr. and Mrs. Geisinger and Mr. and Mrs. Fouse