Adsorption of phenanthrene on organoclays from distilled and saline water

Abstract

Isotherms of phenanthrene adsorption on different organoclay complexes were obtained using the HPLC technique to understand the adsorption behavior and to characterize the effect of sodium chloride (NaCl) on the adsorption. The adsorbed amounts of phenanthrene on montmorillonite exchanged by organic cations such as tetraheptylammonium, benzyltrimethylammonium, hexadecyltrimethylammonium, or tetraphenylphosphonium were several times higher than those obtained using montmorillonite clay without surface modification. At the same equilibrium concentration, the adsorbed amount of phenanthrene is higher on clay modified with benzyltrimethylammonium than on clay modified with hexadecyltrimethylammonium or other cations. Adsorption of phenanthrene on clay modified with benzyltrimethylammonium increased dramatically as the concentration of NaCl increased up to 150 g/l in the aqueous …