Adsorption and adsolubilization of polymerizable surfactants on aluminum oxide

Surfactant-based adsorption processes have been widely investigated for environmental applications. A major problem facing surfactant-modified adsorbents is surfactant loss from the adsorbent due to loss of monomers from solution and subsequent surfactant desorption. For this study, a bilayer of anionic polymerizable surfactant (Hitenol BC 05, Hitenol BC 10 and Hitenol BC 20) and non-polymerizable surfactant (Hitenol N 08) was adsorbed onto alumina. The results of adsorption studies showed that as the number of ethylene oxide (EO) groups of the surfactants increased, the area per molecule increased and the maximum adsorption decreased. The lowest maximum adsorption onto alumina was for Hitenol BC 20 (20 EO groups) corresponding to 0.08 mmol/g or 0.34 molecule/nm(2) while the highest level of adsorption was 0.30 mmol/g or 1.28 molecule/nm(2) for Hitenol BC 05 (5 EO groups). This variation in adsorption was attributed to the increased bulkiness of the head group with increasing number of EO groups. Relative to the adsolubilization capacity of organic solutes, ethylcyclohexane adsolubilizes more than styrene. Styrene and ethylcyclohexane adsolubilization were both independent of the number of EO groups of the surfactant. For surfactant desorption studies, the polymerization of polymerizable surfactants increased the stability of surfactants adsorbed onto the alumina surface and reduced surfactant desorption from the alumina surface. These results provide useful information on surfactant-based surface modification to enhance contaminant remediation and industrial applications.