Increasingly frequent petroleum contamination in oceans continue to threaten our ecosystem, which lacks efficient and safe remediation tactics on both macro and nanoscales. Current nanomaterial and dispersant remediation methods neglect to investigate their adverse environmental and biological impact, which can lead to a synergistic chemical imbalance. In response to this rising threat, a highly efficient and biocompatible nano-dispersant has been developed comprising a multi-shelled nanoparticle termed ‘Nano-CarboScavengers’ (NCS) with native properties for facile recovery via booms and mesh tools. NCS treated different forms of petroleum oil (raw and distillate form) with remarkable efficiency (80% and 91% respectively) utilizing sequestration and dispersion abilities in tandem with a 9.9:1 (oil:NCS) loading capacity. In major contrast with chemical dispersants, the NCS was found to be remarkably benign in in vitro and in vivo assays (Figure 1). Additionally, the carboneous nature of NCS broke down via human myeloperoxidase and horseradish peroxidase enzymes, revealing that incidental biological uptake can enzymatically digest the sugar based core.

Chemistry of Nano-CarboScavengers allows dual method rehabilitation of petroleum contaminated water

255th National Meeting (2018)

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