Potential of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles for Remediation of Oil-Contaminated Soil and Water

• Yetunde M. ALADEITAN

  Author

• Abdulmojeed O. OLUOGUN

  Author

Long-term impact of oil spills on the environment and on the health and livelihood of people is one of the biggest concerns around the issue of environment in oil producing regions like the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, which has experienced oil spills for years and years; with years of impact on the environment and the health and livelihood of its inhabitants. In many cases, traditional remediation methods—like chemical oxidation using hydrogen peroxide—aren't effective enough, don't have to be intrusive, and aren't practical in resource-limited areas, where there is a need for simpler, sustainable and effective solutions that are readily available. In this work, the synthesis, characterization and photocatalytic application of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles for the remediation of oil-contaminated soil and water has been studied. Facile precipitation methodology was used for the synthesis of nanoparticles and its characterization was done by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Ultraviolet-Visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and X-ray Diffraction (XRD). FTIR spectrum revealed the presence of Zn-O stretching vibration at ~ 535 cm⁻¹ and sharp absorption peak at 367 nm which corresponds to the Band gap energy of 3.38 eV as revealed by the UV-Vis spectroscopy. SEM image showed good dispersion of the nanoparticles (20-50 nm in diameter) and XRD analysis showed hexagonal wurtzite crystal structure. The photocatalytic remediation experiments under UV exposure resulted in the reduction of total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) of 85.1% in water samples, and 76.9% in soil samples, much better than that of the conventional hydrogen peroxide treatment (65.0% for water samples and 68.3% for soil samples). The results revealed that the ZnO nanoparticles were very effective, eco-friendly and were also synthetically scalable which was better than the existing chemical oxidation methods. The current technologies have deficiencies in reducing the impact of hydrocarbons in sensitive area impacted by oil pollution, it is a scientific solution that is theoretically sound and practically viable.

• 1_Aladeitan and Oluogun (2026)

Copyright (c) 2026 Yetunde M. ALADEITAN, Abdulmojeed O. OLUOGUN (Author)

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