Extraction Condition and Efficiency of Some Hazardous Organic Chemicals from Aqueous Solutions Using a Thermoresponsive Polymer System

Abstract

The extraction behavior of β-estradiol, bisphenol A and triclosan observed in a thermoresponsive poly (vinylmethyl) ether precipitate system were investigated. The three toxicants were extracted from aqueous solutions into a gum-like precipitate, which formed by aggregation when the solution was heated to a temperature higher than the lower critical solution temperature of the polymer (ca. 305 K) . An anionic surfactant, linear dodecylbenzenesulfonate was found to decrease the efficiency in formation of the precipitate and in extraction of the target chemicals. However, no such effect was found by addition of a kind of nonionic surfactant polyethyleneglycol tert-octylphenyl ether or humic acid, which are typical coexisting organic materials in environmental waters. More than 90 % of the β-estradiol and bisphenol A was extracted with 3 gl-1 of the polymer, and only 0.3 gl-1 was needed to extract more than 90% of the triclosan. The extraction capacity of the polymer precipitate for the three chemicals was around 10-4 mol per 1 g of the precipitate.