The research results compare the anionic (Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate, C12H25SO4Na, SDS) and cationic (Hexadecyltrimethyl Ammonium Bromide, C19H42BrN, HDTMA) surfactant modification of fly ash and its potential to abate the organic pollutant from water. After surfactant functionalization, the ash was characterized by BET, SEM, TGA and FTIR. BET results showed that the SDS treated ash is more porous than HDTMA modified ash. Moreover, SEM images revealed that SDS activation produces a cracked adsorbent surface due to which porosity of surface increases. SDS treatment increases the thermal stability of ash based adsorbent contrary to its HDTMA activation. The efficiency of surfactants modification was compared by testing their ability to adsorb two nonpolar organic pollutants i.e. Chlorobenzene and Nitrobenzene from contaminated water. The batch adsorption runs were carried out under different experimental conditions and removal efficiency were compared for both surfactant modifications. The effect of different process parameters like adsorbent dose, initial solution pH, pollutant concentration and temperature of solution were considered. The adsorption results concluded that the surface modification of fly ash with SDS is superior to HDTMA. The uptake capacity of both organic pollutants with SDS-modified fly ash was found to be ~ 220 mg/g (for chlorobenzene) and ~ 90mg/g (for nitrobenzene) respectively. The removal of pollutant chlorobenzene was found to be exothermic for both surfactant active adsorbents however the adsorption of nitrobenzene was endothermic in nature. The analysis of experimental results by applying various isotherms revealed multilayer adsorption of both organic pollutants onto surfactant modified fly ash adsorbent surface.

Sorption of organic contaminants from water using surfactant modified fly ash: Performance comparison of anionic and cationic surfactant modifications

2019 Spring National Meeting

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