Abstract
The recovery of Tween 80 from a liquid residue, obtained after washing of a contaminated soil with p-Cresol, was studied by selective adsorption of p-Cresol with activated carbons. A modified expression of the Langmuir equation was succesfully used to predict the adsorption isotherms of p-Cresol in the absence and presence of different surfactant concentrations. The presence of surfactant seems to modify the adsorption equilibrium, but it does not produce any significant influence on the adsorption kinetic of p-Cresol. A mathematical model was developed to predict the optimum activated carbon dosage demanded to reduce the p-Cresol concentration as a function of the surfactant concentration, also obtaining the corresponding surfactant loss. The regenerated solution was favorably used as washing solution in a new contaminated soil. These results indicate that this technique can be adequate to recover the surfactant solution, with a relatively minimal loss, for a subsequent application.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ahn, C. K., Kim, Y. M., Woo, S. H., & Park, J. M. (2007). Selective adsorption of phenanthrene dissolved in surfactant solution using activated carbon. Chemosphere, 69(11), 1681–1688.
Ahn, C. K., Kim, Y. M., Woo, S. H., & Park, J. M. (2008). Soil washing using various nonionic surfactants and their recovery by selective adsorption with activated carbon. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 154(1–3), 153–160.
Ahn, C. K., Woo, S. H., & Park, J. M. (2010). Selective adsorption of phenanthrene in nonionic–anionic surfactant mixtures using activated carbon. Chemical Engineering Journal, 158(2), 115–119.
Aizawa, H. (2011). Effect of increasing N, N-dimethylformamide concentration on the structure of polysorbate 80 micelles. The Open Chemical Physics Journal, 3, 6–9.
Alcántara, M. T., Gómez, J., Pazos, M., & Sanromán, M. A. (2008). Combined treatment of PAHs contaminated soils using the sequence extraction with surfactant–electrochemical degradation. Chemosphere, 70(8), 1438–1444.
Clark, K. K., & Keller, A. A. (2012). Investigation of two magnetic permanently confined micelle array sorbents using nonionic and cationic surfactants for the removal of PAHs and pesticides from aqueous media. Water, Air, and Soil Pollution, 223(7), 3647–3655.
Cordero, T., Rodriguez-Mirasol, J., Bedia, J., Gomis, S., Yustos, P., García-Ochoa, F., et al. (2008). Activated carbon as catalyst in wet oxidation of phenol: effect of the oxidation reaction on the catalyst properties and stability. Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, 81(1–2), 122–131.
Fabbri, D., Bianco Prevot, A., Zelano, V., Ginepro, M., & Pramauro, E. (2008). Removal and degradation of aromatic compounds from a highly polluted site by coupling soil washing with photocatalysis. Chemosphere, 71(1), 59–65.
Laha, S., Tansel, B., & Ussawarujikulchai, A. (2009). Surfactant–soil interactions during surfactant-amended remediation of contaminated soils by hydrophobic organic compounds: a review. Journal of Environmental Management, 90(1), 95–100.
Moreno-Castilla, C., Rivera-Utrilla, J., Lopez-Ramon, M. V., & Carrasco-Marin, F. (1995). Adsorption of some substituted phenols on activated carbons from a bituminous coal. Carbon, 33(6), 845–851.
Rosas, J. M., Vicente, F., Santos, A., & Romero, A. (2011). Enhancing p-Cresol extraction from soil. Chemosphere, 84(2), 260–264.
Rosas, J. M., Vicente, F., Santos, A., & Romero, A. (2013). Soil remediation using soil washing followed by Fenton oxidation. Chemical Engineering Journal, 220, 125–132.
Santos, A., Yustos, P., Cordero, T., Gomis, S., Rodríguez, S., & García-Ochoa, F. (2005). Catalytic wet oxidation of phenol on active carbon: stability, phenol conversion and mineralization. Catalysis Today, 102–103, 213–218.
Singh, R. K., Kumar, S., Kumar, S., & Kumar, A. (2008). Development of parthenium based activated carbon and its utilization for adsorptive removal of p-cresol from aqueous solution. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 155(3), 523–535.
Villa, R. D., Trovo, A. G., & Pupo Nogueira, R. F. (2010). Soil remediation using a coupled process: soil washing with surfactant followed by photo-Fenton oxidation. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 174(1–3), 770–775.
Wang, J., Chai, L., Lu, X., Lin, Y., & Zhang, S. (2011). Remediation of hexachlorobenzene contaminated soils by rhamnolipid enhanced soil washing coupled with activated carbon selective adsorption. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 189(1–2), 458–464.
Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge the financial support for this research from the Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid provided throughout project CARESOIL (S2009AMB-1648) and from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, projects CTM2010-16693.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rosas, J.M., Santos, A. & Romero, A. Soil-Washing Effluent Treatment by Selective Adsorption of Toxic Organic Contaminants on Activated Carbon. Water Air Soil Pollut 224, 1506 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-013-1506-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-013-1506-4