Tree Bark as a Promising Sorption Material to Extract Hydrocarbons from Aquatic Environments: A Review

Data on the use of bark of coniferous and deciduous trees as a sorption material to extract hydrocarbons from aqueous media are summarized. It was shown that tree bark is an effective, widespread, and cheap sorption material to remove petroleum and its products from the water surface. It was also shown that the sorption characteristics of tree bark for petroleum and its processing products can be increased via modification with various chemical reagents. It was found that most publications are devoted to study the bark of coniferous trees as oil sorbents, most of all the bark of Pinus sylvestris. The limited number of publications on the use of deciduous tree bark as petroleum sorbents makes this area promising.