Acetylated rice husks (ARH) have been studied as sorbents for crude oil spill cleanup operations in the aqueous environment. Sorption kinetics and isotherm studies were carried out under various experimental conditions. The experimental data were particularly tested with the pseudo-second-order kinetic model, the Langmuir isotherm model and the Freundlich isotherm model. The crude oil absorptive behavior of the acetylated rice husks has been discussed and the experimental methods adopted for the determination and estimation of the sorption coefficients have also been described. The correlation values for the isotherms models studied showed that the data better fitted the Langmuir model than the Freundlich model. Adsorption was therefore monolayer and the optimum theoretical monolayer sorption capacity was 10.31g/g rice husks. These values indicated that the acetylated rice husks are suitable sorbents with potential for further development for oil spill treatment.
