Kinetics and Reductive Degradation of Surfactant-Solublized CCl4 in Water Using Bimetallic Particles

Abstract

Degradation of high concentrations of carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) solubilized using surfactants were investigated in this study. Iron−nickel particles have been studied as a reagent for the dehalogenation of CCl4. Surfactants such as anionic (sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)), nonionic (Triton X-100), cationic (cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB)) Rhaminolipid, and a biosurfactant (UH—biosurfactant) were used in solubilization studies at room temperature in continuously stirred batch reactors. The solubility of CCl4 (800 mg/L in water) in the surfactant solutions increased with increase in surfactant concentrations. Of the surfactants studied, Triton X-100 had the highest CCl4 solubilized per gram of surfactant. Bimetallic iron−nickel (Fe−Ni) particles were used in continuously stirred batch reactors for degradation study. The bimetallic particles were synthesized using the solution method and the particles were characterized using the SEM, EDS, and XRD. The CCl4 solubilized up to 8000 mg/L (around 10 times the water solubility) in all surfactant solutions were totally degraded at various rates by 200 g/L of bimetallic Fe−Ni particles in less than 60 h, which is the highest concentration of CCl4 degraded in the shortest time compared to data in the literature. The degradations of CCl4 solubilized in surfactants were represented by nonlinear kinetic relationships which were dependent on the type of surfactant used for solubilizing the CCl4.