Iranian Association of Environmental Health (IAEH)
Abstract
Surfactant-modified clinoptilolite-rich tuff was used for the removal
of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) from aqueous solutions.
Clinoptilolite zeolite from Miyaneh region of Iran was treated with
sodium chloride and then modified with hexadecyltrimethylammonium
chloride (HDTMA-Cl) and n-Cetylpyridinium bromide (CPB) to be used in
different experimental conditions. The ability of raw or Non-Modified
Zeolite (NMZ) and Surfactant-Modified Zeolites (SMZ) to remove MTBE
from aqueous solutions was investigated as a function of contact time,
pH and concentrations of adsorbent and adsorbate, by using a batch
technique in aqueous system. The removal of MTBE from aqueous solutions
by modified zeolites seemed to be more effective than non-modified
samples. Also, HDTMA-modified zeolite had more effective performance
than CPB-modified zeolite. The adsorption efficiency of MTBE onto SMZS
was found to increase by contact time and adsorbent concentrations, and
by decreasing of pH and adsorbate concentrations. Empirical adsorption
models of Langmuir and Freundlich were applied for the experimental
data. Results showed that Langmuir isotherm was more suitable for this
process. The experimental data fitted very well with the
pseudo-second-order kinetic model. It was overally found that
Surfactant-Modified Zeolites is an effective adsorbent for removal of
methyl tert-butyl ether from contaminated solutions