抄録
A wicking method technique to study the sorption behavior of heavy oil into exfoliated graphite packed in a glass column was developed. The weight increase of the exfoliated graphite column during the sorption process was continuously measured. It was found that the sorption speed depended on the viscosity of heavy oils. Sorption of the A-grade heavy oil with a low kinematic viscosity was a hundred times as quick as that of the C-grade oil with a high viscosity. Packed density of the exfoliated graphite in the column affected not only sorption speed but also the sorbed amount of heavy oil, because the size of opening spaces formed among the exfoliated graphite particles and the pore volume per unit weight of exfoliated graphite decreased with increasing the packed density. The exfoliated graphite column with the higher packed density showed quicker sorption of heavy oil. Exfoliated graphite with density of 7kg/m3 showed the largest weight of sorbed oil per unit weight of the graphite. The weight of sorbed oil per unit weight of exfoliated graphite decreased with increasing the packed density. In the saturated weight of heavy oil sorbed into the column, however, the maximum value was found when the exfoliated graphite was slightly densified from 12 to 16kg/m3.
