Nonionic Surfactant Solubilization of PAHs in Bentonite/Aqueous Systems

Abstract

Enhanced solubilization of phenanthrene and pyrene from bentonite in micellar solution of Brij 30 and Triton X-100 has been studied. Experiments in batch bentonite/aqueous system were conducted to investigate the effectiveness of solubilization of phenanthrene and pyrene. The results obtained in this study are as follows:
The solubilization of pyrene from bentonite in surfactant solutions was very low because of low water solubility and strong sorption onto bentonite of pyrene. Meanwhile, the solubilization of phenanthrene increased at bulk surfactant concentrations greater than the surfactant critical micelle concentration and was in order of Triton X-100>Brij 30. The solubilization of phenanthrene was also analyzed based on the partitioning of phenanthrene between bentonite, nonionic surfactant micelle and aqueous solution surrounding the micelles.