Alkyl Benzene Sulfonate

Major constituents of synthetic

detergents, are widely used in
various industrial processes,

Paper Industries

Electroplating

Cosmetics

Food Processing

Laundry

Vehicle Washing
 Environmetally Released
Because of these extensive applications
a considerable amount of those
surfactants is released into the
environment, as wastewater,
causing pollution problems. These
surfactants and especially the
products of their degradation
(sulfophenyl carboxylate) may
remain for long periods of time
(Eichhorn et al., 2002)
Surfactant Removal
Chemical and electrochemical
01 oxidation (Lin et al., 1999; Lissens et
al., 2003)
Membranes technology (Kowalska et
02 al., 2004),

Chemical precipitation (Shiau et al.,

03 1994), photocatalytic degradation
(Zhang et al., 2003),
Biological methods (Jerábková et al.,
04 1999),

Adsorption (Purakayastha et al., 2002;

05 Gupta et al., 2003; Adak et al., 2005).
 Zeolite
Natural zeolites are
microporous mineral formed
from hydrated crystalline
aluminosilicates, with three-
dimensional structures,
consisting of the tetrahedral
SiO4 and AlO4.
The partial substitution of
Si4+ by Al3+ results in an
excess of negative charge is
compensated by
exchangeable cations (Na+ ,
K+ , Ca2+ or Mg2+).
Cation-Exchange
The cation-exchange properties of
natural zeolites can be exploited to
modify their surface chemistries such
that other classes of compounds
(anionics and non-polar organics) may
also be adsorbed, resulting in an
interesting property for environmental
remediation. The ion exchange with
cationic surfactants has been used to
modify the surface properties of natural
zeolites. Generally these surfactants are
formed by long alkyl chains with a
quaternary ammonium group at one end
of the chain (Smith and Galan, 1995).
 Monolayer vs Bilayer
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The adsorption of a cationic surfactant onto the
negatively charged surface of a natural zeolite seems to
governed mainly by cationic exchange and hydrophobic
interactions (Xu and Boyd, 1995). At a low surfactant
concentration, the surfactant cations are exchanged with
the exchangeable cations of the natural zeolite until a
monolayer of surfactant cations is formed at the external
surface.
At higher concentrations hemimicelles or micelles, a
bilayer (or more) of surfactant molecules (admicelle) are
attached to the external surface, where the outer layer of
surfactant molecules are bound by hydrophobic
interactions. The external surface charge of the zeolite is
changed from negative into positive and now might
displays anion exchange capacity (Haggerty and
Bowman, 1994; Li and Bowman, 1997).
 Aims of this paper
Modify a natural zeolite with a cationic surfactant (CTAB) to
study the removal (and mechanisms involved) of an anionic
surfactant (SDBS) from aqueous solution by adsorption, at
bench scale.
Main parameters were the pH solution, concentration of the
modifier (CTAB), adsorption kinetics and isotherms. This
work is part of a series addressed to modify natural zeolites
to enhance their adsorption capacities for different kinds of
pollutants applications.