Investigation of the Effect of Titanium Oxide Nanoparticles on Saponin and Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate Surfactants Performance in the Heavy Oil Storage Tanks Clean up Process

In this research, the effect of titanium oxide nanoparticles on the performance of saponin and sodium dodecyl sulfate biosurfactants in cleaning heavy crude oil storage tank was investigated. Also, after the clean up process, sodium dodecyl sulfate, saponin and titanium oxide nanoparticles were used to recover the oil from the residual sludge of crude oil storage tanks on a laboratory scale. The results showed that the optimal amount of HLB for the extraction process was about 24.1 for a mixture of 40% sodium dodecyl sulfate and 60% saponin. The results also showed that the simultaneous use of surfactants and nanoparticles leads to a synergistic effect that significantly increases the efficiency of the extraction process. The maximum residual amount of oil in the sludge under optimal conditions was about 3.6 (HLB value = 24.1 for a mixture of surfactants and 3 g / l titanium oxide nanoparticles). This value was 92.5% and 93.7% for each of the surfactants without the presence of titanium oxide nanoparticles for saponin and sodium dodecyl sulfate. The results of the present study showed that this method has the potential for industrial applications and can be used in oil recycling from petroleum sludge.