Benzalkonium bromide cationic surfactant removal from wastewater using magnetite nanomaterial

Abstract

The cationic surfactants have various applications being found in personal care products, detergents, cleaning products, disinfectants, hair conditioners, etc. Cationic surfactants are presented in domestic or industrial wastewater, being very resistant pollutants to biodegradation during conventional wastewater treatment (WT) methods, which generated the need to develop new efficient alternative methods. One of the alternative to conventional WT methods involves the utilization of the adsorbent nanomaterials, which are highly efficient, easy to operate, environmental friendly and cost effective. In this study, it was investigated the adsorption process of a cationic surfactant, benzyldodecyldimethylammonium bromide (benzalkonium bromide) from wastewater on magnetite nanomaterial. The adsorption investigation of benzalkonium bromide was analyzed by TOC analysis and the maximum adsorption efficiency obtained was 91.4 %. The experimental data fitted very well with Langmuir model, the correlation coefficient (R2) being 0.9792.