Arsenic retention and transport behavior in the presence of typical anionic and nonionic surfactants

The massive production and wide use of surfactants have resulted in a large amount of surfactant residuals being discharged into the environment, which could have an impact on arsenic behavior. In the present study, the influence of the anionic surfactant sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (SDBS) and nonionic surfactant polyethylene glycol octylphenyl ether (Triton X-100) on arsenic behavior was investigated in batch and column tests. The presence of SDBS and Triton X-100 reduced arsenic retention onto ferrihydrite (FH), enhanced arsenic transport through FH coated sand (FH-sand) columns and promoted arsenic release from the FH surface. With coexisting surfactants in solution, the equilibrium adsorbed amount of arsenic on FH decreased by up to 29.7% and the adsorption rate decreased by up to 52.3%. Pre-coating with surfactants caused a decrease in the adsorbed amount and adsorption rate of arsenic by up to 15.1% and 58.3%, respectively. Because of the adsorption attenuation caused by surfactants, breakthrough of As(V) and As(III) with SDBS in columns packed with FH-sand was 23.8% and 14.3% faster than that in those without SDBS, respectively. In columns packed with SDBS-coated FH-sand, transport of arsenic was enhanced to a greater extent. Breakthrough of As(V) and As(III) was 52.4% and 43.8% faster and the cumulative retention amount was 44.5% and 57.3% less than that in pure FH-sand column systems, respectively. Mobilization of arsenic by surfactants increased with the increase of the initial adsorbed amount of arsenic. The cumulative release amount of As(V) and As(III) from the packed column reached 10.8% and 36.0%, respectively.