OPTIMIZATION OF GREEN DISPERSANT PRODUCTION UTILIZING SHRIMP WASTE FOR CRUDE OIL DISPERSION

摘要

Dispersants have been widely applied for oil spill response. Green dispersants are highly desired since the application of existing chemical dispersants has led certain toxicity concern. Till now, green dispersants have not yet been employed extensively in industry, mainly due to their high production costs. Using waste as unconventional source for green dispersant production has become a trend to facilitate wider commercial applications. In this study, Newfoundland shrimp waste was utilized as the low-cost resource for green dispersant production through enzymatic modification. Alcalase, a kind of commercial protease was used to hydrolyze the shrimp waste. Optimization of the green dispersant production process was conducted using composite central design and response surface methodology. Three factors including enzyme/substrate ratio, hydrolysis time and hydrolysis temperature were investigated. The effectiveness of dispersing Alaska North Slope crude oil was used as a response for system optimization. Economic analysis regarding the factors was also conducted. Results indicated that the optimized conditions of factors for generating the green dispersant with effective oil dispersion at minimum cost were E/S ratio at 1%, hydrolysis time at 2.23 h and temperature at 62.5°C. The research outputs would lead to a promising green methodology for oil spill response.