Nassar, Nashaat N.Ramirez Leyva, Jose Humberto2018-08-212018-08-212018-08-16http://hdl.handle.net/1880/107644Since hydrocarbons are the world’s main energy source, latent risk for oil spills during extraction, processing and storage must be properly managed and considered for a contingency plan. In the last half century, big catastrophes related to oil spills have caused oil companies millions of dollars in losses. Additionally, the environmental impact can remain for several decades. Existing materials in the market for oil spill cleaning up are considered inefficient as they do not allow an easy oil recovery for further usage. Current technology and materials for oil spill cleaning must be renewed, targeting the production of new materials with high performance and reusability capabilities. In this study, we introduce a facile strategy for manufacturing nanostructured magnetic white graphene sponges and its performance evaluation for effective water cleaning. Optimized synthesis protocol takes into consideration new findings related to the composition and porosity change during the white graphene synthesis steps. The proposed synthesis procedure requires less energy and time compared with similar works reported before. This research introduces two main contributions for the evolution of oil spill cleaning technology. The first one is a procedure for obtaining a powerful material for oil sorption. The second contribution is an objective and trustworthy method for the performance evaluation of magnetic absorbentsengUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.EngineeringEngineering--ChemicalEngineering--Environmentalmaster thesis10.11575/PRISM/32824