|
Using Organoclay to adsorb organic contaminants in wastewater treatment
Clay minerals have impressive adsorption properties which make them to act good in the removal of contaminants in water. Natural clay couldn’t interact with anions and hydrophobic pollutants as most organic pollutants such as phenol derivatives. By adding cation to the natural clay the adsorbent properties of it might be developed so there would be large amounts of pollutant will be removed by modified clay. The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of using organoclay for organic contaminants removal and the adsorption capacity. The phenol was used as test substances. Organoclay is clay which was modified by adding cations to it. The tetraphenylphosphonium ions were used to modify clay. Phenol is a chemical pollutant which has priority to remove from water because of it is hazardous to human health. Phenol is one of the components of material which is used in herbicides and insecticides. It is also used in paper industry. Phenol has high water solubility and negative charge. Clay minerals have excellent sorption capabilities for cations. This property arises from the large specific surface area. However clay minerals are not good adsorbent for anionic, hydrophobic or organic contaminants. Previous studies have indicated that adsorptive capabilities of clay minerals can be modified by adding the organic cations to replace the inorganic interlayer cations. The ions were used for this purpose could be alkylammonium ions (differing in carbon chain length) or might be aromatic or aliphatic, also could be organic monovalent which have large affinity to the clay surfaces. So organoclay may efficiency adsorb organic pollutant.
|
|
|
