Adsorptive Removal of Non-Ionic Surfactants from Water Using Granite Sand

The adsorption of Triton X-100 in aqueous solution on the granite sand has been investigated to evaluate its ability as an adsorbent. Various parameters such as agitation time, adsorbent dose, adsorbent size, initial concentration of adsorbate, pH, temperature, and effect of interference ions were studied on the laboratory scale to establish optimum conditions for the removal of TX-100 from the effluents of different industries. Isotherm data were analyzed for possible agreement with the Langmuir and Frendlich adsorption isotherm equations. The first order rate equation by Lagergren was tested on the kinetic data. The rate of adsorption was conformed a pseudo first order kinetics with good correlation coefficient. The value of activation energy of sorption (Ea) was obtained as 44.6 kJ mol. Results showed that granite sand exhibit reasonably good surfactant removals for nonionic types. The possible role of the adsorbent in a chromatographic column was also worked out.