IIT Guwahati develop gelator material to detect fuel adulteration, tackle oil spills

Guwahati, Nov 19: Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati have developed a novel material that can detect adulteration or contamination of kerosene in petrol. The developed material also holds the potential to selectively absorb oil from water and solidify it.

The findings of the research have been published in the prestigious journal Chemical Engineering in a paper co-authored by Prof Gopal Das, of the Department of Chemistry of IIT Guwahati, along with his research scholars, Rubi Moral and Oiyao Appun Pegu.

Oil spills in oceans are among the most damaging environmental disasters in the world and lead to the loss of marine life, coastlines, and livelihoods that depend on them.

According to the Oil Tanker Spill Statistics, 10,000 tonnes of oil spilled into the oceans and seas globally in 2024.

Oil spreads quickly and widely on water, making cleaning a challenging task. Use of chemical absorbents or other steps, which includes burning the oil, to tackle it often lead to secondary pollution.

To address this challenge, the IIT Guwahati research team has developed a Phase-Selective Organogelator (PSOG) molecule, a special class of safe materials.

The PSOG was designed to undergo a hierarchical supramolecular self-assembly process which ultimately leads to oil gelation.

It can trap oils such as kerosene and diesel through a self-assembly process, similar to how soap molecules organise themselves in water.

Once they trap the oil, they form semi-solid gels that can be easily removed without disturbing the water below.

"Our developed PSOG possesses a unique ability to selectively form gel only in presence of some specific oil samples, namely kerosene and diesel, among a vast range of studied organic solvents as well as oil samples.

Moreover, such a highly selective PSOG might also be useful in targeting some specific oil samples from a complex mixture of different oil samples, and recovery of the same from different water bodies.

So, this work might give a new direction in the future developments of PSOGs for water remediation as well as detection of different fuel adulteration," Prof Das said.

Another potential use of the developed organogel is to detect the adulteration of kerosene.

"In India, especially among low-income groups, kerosene is sometimes adulterated with petrol to reduce the running cost of automobiles or household cooking.

This is a dangerous combination as the adulterated fuel is highly flammable and has caused multiple kerosene stove explosion accidents in the country," Prof Das said.

As the next step, Prof Das and his team aim to advance the research towards detecting various types of fuel adulteration. Additionally, the team is also working on enhancing the efficiency of the detection process by refining the design and functionality of the gelator molecule.