Novel surfactant-based adsorbent material for groundwater remediation

Many surfactants aggregate spontaneously in aqueous media to form small spherical structures called micelles. Among the numerous technical applications it is known that micelles have the ability to dissolve in their hydrophobic part significant amounts of water-insoluble organic compounds. In this study we investigated through UV-vis spectroscopy the micellar solubilization of 2,4,5-trichlorophenol (Tcp), an intermediate product of the microbial degradation of the broad-leaf herbicide 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic (2,4,5-T). Our results show that in the presence of the anionic surfactant sodium dodecylsulfate SDS the water solubility of Tcp increases six-fold whereas with cationic CTAB and nonionic Triton-X 100 the partition of chlorinated compound is not efficient. After the excess amount of the pollutant solubilized in SDS-micelles has been precipitated with CaCl2 the remaining fraction of Tcp has been successfully reduced within the toxicological limit for drinkable water through a cocurrent multistage operation. Finally, potential use in the decontamination of wastewater or soils of the new adsorbent material has been compared with the most commonly used activated carbon and silica gel.