Hydrophobic and non-polar organic carbon compounds have low aquous solubilities, and the biodegradation of such compounds may be restricted because of the low solubility coupled with strong binding/sorption onto solids. There is interest in evaluating whether the biotreatment hydrophobic organic carbons may be facilitated through surfactant addition, since surfactant can increase the amount of sparingly soluble hydrophobic organic carbons present in the liquid phase by incorporation in surfactant micelles or aggregates. The main goal of this research is to study the factors affecting the surfactant sorption on soil such as surfactant concentration, soil organic content, and removing organic contaminant like decane from soil using nonionic surfactant, Triton X-100. The results indicated that when the concentration of surfactant was lower than the CMC, the amount of surfactant sorbed on soil increased with the increasing surfactant concentration and surfactant sorption characteristics of the uncontaminated soils could be modeled by Freundlich isotherm. For the contaminated soils, the amount of surfactant sorbed was higher than those for the uncontaminated soils. The amount of surfactant sorbed on soils also depends on the organic content in the soils. When the concentration of surfactant was higher than the CMC, the amount of surfactant added into the soil/aqueous system will increase the number of micelle and it increase the solubilization of organic contaminant from the soils. Measurements of surface tension were used for our analysis to gain the data and conclusion from this study. 

Title

Journal of Chemsitry & Research Science

Publisher

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Publisher Country

Palestine

Publication Type

Both (Printed and Online)

Volume

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Year

2007

Pages

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