Sorption and recovery of heavy oils by using exfoliated graphite Part III: Trials for practical applications

As a preliminary trial for a practical application to recover heavy oil, exfoliated graphite was packed into a plastic bag and its sorption behavior was studied. In order to achieve an extremely high sorption capacity of exfoliated graphite, special attention had to be paid to the process of picking up the bag from the oil layer and the use of the metallic mesh recommended. The material of the bag has also to be selected, particularly for the recovery of heavy oil from its thin layer on water.