Initial Surfactant Concentration Research Articles

Enhanced stability of free viscous films due to surface viscosity

The stability of a thin liquid film bounded by two free surfaces is examined in the presence of insoluble surface-active agents. This study is broadly aimed at understanding enhanced stability of emulsions with the increasing surface concentration of surface-active agents. Surface-active agents not only cause gradients in surface tension but could also render surface viscosity to be significant, which could vary with surface concentration. We employ two phenomenological models for surface viscosity, a linear viscosity model and a nonlinear viscosity model. In the latter, surface viscosity diverges at a critical concentration, which is termed the “jamming” limit. We show that rupture can be significantly delayed with high surface viscosity. An analysis of the “jamming” limit reveals that Γi(nl)>3D/M provides a simple criterion for enhanced stability, where Γi(nl), D, and M are the normalized initial surfactant concentration, disjoining pressure number, and Marangoni number, respectively. Nonlinear simulations suggest that high surface viscosity renders free films remarkably stable in the jamming limit, and their free surfaces behave like immobile interfaces consistent with experimental observations. Furthermore, it is shown that rupture times can be arbitrarily increased by tuning the initial surfactant concentration, offering a fluid dynamical route to stabilization of thin films.

The evaporation of surfactant-laden droplets: A comparison between contact line models

HypothesisThere are two different sharp-interface models for moving contact lines: slip models and precursor film models. While both models predict a mostly constant contact angle during the evaporation of pure droplets, it is expected that they behave differently when surfactants are present, because of the inherent dissimilarities in their respective interface definitions. SimulationsBoth contact line models are numerically implemented using lubrication theory to analyze evaporating droplets. A convection-diffusion equation is implemented for insoluble surfactants. For pure droplets the models are compared with experiments performed by Nguyen et al. (2012). FindingsThe two contact line models show results comparable to the experiments with pure droplets. If insoluble surfactants are present, the slip model increasingly shows pinning-like behavior as the initial surfactant concentration is increased. This ‘quasi-pinning’ is found to be consistent with experimental results in literature. The precursor film model, in contrast, shows no significant change when surfactants are added. This lack of change is a result of surfactant flowing from the droplet into the precursor film and vice versa. While suggesting potential solutions to this unphysical behavior, it is concluded that in the context of surfactants, slip models are preferable over precursor film models given the current state of the art.

Phytoremediation potential of Azolla filiculoides for sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (SDBS) surfactant considering some physiological responses, effects of operational parameters and biodegradation of surfactant.

In this study, phytoremediation potential of the Azolla filiculoides Lam. was examined for sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (SDBS) anionic surfactant. Furthermore, the effect of surfactant treatment on some physiological characteristics of Azolla was studied. The surfactant bioremoval efficiency was studied under variable conditions including treatment time, initial surfactant concentration, Azolla fresh weight, temperature, and pH. Results showed that surfactant removal efficiency of A. filiculoides was significantly enhanced with increasing of temperature, initial surfactant concentration, and amount of Azolla. SDBS led to a reduction in growth rate and total chlorophyll content, but effect index of Azolla increased by higher concentrations of surfactant. In contrast, antioxidant enzymes activities including polyphenol oxidase, ascorbate peroxidase, catalase, and peroxidase, as well as nonenzymatic antioxidants such as total carotenoids and anthocyanin contents significantly increased probably due to the ability of plant to overcome oxidative stress induced by SDBS. An increase in antioxidant activity based on 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazil (DPPH) confirmed this fact. An increase in the amount of hydrogen peroxide and reduction in membrane stability index indicated the induction of oxidative stress. As a result of SDBS biodegradation, 6 homologs of sulfophenyl carboxylates (SPCs) including C2 to C7-SPC and benzenesulfonate ring were identified by liquid chromatography-mass spectroscopy (LC-MS) analysis.

Oscillation dynamics of colloidal particles caused by surfactant in an evaporating droplet

Surfactant-induced Marangoni flows can alter the typical outward capillary flows in a drying droplet. Previous studies show that intricate time-dependent periodic motions of colloidal particles, such as Marangoni eddies and back-and-forth oscillatory motions, can be developed due to the coupled dynamics of surfactant and evaporation. Here, the temporal motions are investigated using a coarse-grained lattice model. We show that during the evaporation, aggregation and depletion zones of colloidal particles emerge close to the contact line when the capillary and Marangoni flows are comparable in the opposite directions. It is found that the type of periodic motions is determined by the initial surfactant concentration. When the strength of the Marangoni flows is sufficiently large at the early stage of evaporation swirling motions rather than oscillatory motions are developed. The periodic motions of particles persist until the surfactant concentration on the surface is saturated. Also, the onset and terminate times of the motions decrease with the initial surfactant concentration.

Impact and Adhesion of Surfactant-Amended Water Droplets on Leaf Surfaces Related to Roughness

Highlights The relationship between impacting droplet deposition and leaf surface roughness was examined. Complete deposition occurred on smooth leaves with roughness heights shorter than 1.5 micrometers. Droplet deposition on rough leaves was best achieved at low initial travel speeds and high surfactant concentrations. This research provides understanding of increasing droplet adhesion on plants for pesticide spray applications. Abstract. Understanding the effects of the microscopic-scale surface roughness of targeted leaves on spray droplet retention and spread can help develop optimal strategies to improve pesticide application efficiency. Improved spray deposition would minimize the amounts of chemicals to be applied and reduce off-target losses and production costs while protecting the environment. A 3D optical surface profiler was used to measure the arithmetic mean roughness height (Sa), providing a reliable metric for microscopic-scale leaf surface roughness. The relationship between leaf surface roughness and droplet deposition was examined by correlating droplet adhesion with the Sa of six leaf types for spray solutions at five surfactant concentrations (0.0% to 0.75%) and eight initial droplet horizontal travel speeds (0.5 to 4.5 m s-1). Leaf roughness and wettability, in terms of Sa and contact angle (θc), ranged from smooth and easy-to-wet to rough and difficult-to-wet (37° 1.6 μm), deposition decreased with increasing Sa and initial droplet horizontal flight velocity, while it increased as surfactant concentration increased. Thus, spray deposition on rough leaf surfaces could be greatly improved with slow initial droplet flight speeds and high surfactant concentrations. In contrast, greater deposition on smoother leaf surfaces could be achieved at any initial droplet flight velocity and with low concentrations of non-ionic surfactant, or possibly none.

Absolute instability of free-falling viscoelastic liquid jets with surfactants

The effect of surfactants on the absolute instability of a viscoelastic liquid jet falling under gravity is examined for axisymmetrical disturbances. In general, the inclusion of surfactants to the interface of a viscoelastic liquid jet allows for the possibility of further processing droplet sizes and breakup lengths. We use the upper-convected Maxwell model to provide a mathematical description of the dynamics of the jet. An asymptotic approach, based on the slenderness of the jet, is used to render the problem more tractable and obtain steady-state solutions and then perform a linear analysis of the convective and absolute instability on these base solutions. By considering travelling wave modes, we derive a dispersion relationship, which is then solved numerically using the Newton-Raphson method. We show the effect of changing a number of dimensionless parameters, including the initial surfactant concentration, on convective and absolute instability. In this work, we use a mapping technique known as the cusp map method to explore absolute instability. The convective/absolute instability boundary is identified for various parameter regimes.

Remediation of trapped DNAPL enhanced by SDS surfactant and silica nanoparticles in heterogeneous porous media: experimental data and empirical models.

The remediation of nonaqueous phase liquids (NAPLs) enhanced by surfactant and nanoparticles (NP) has been investigated in numerous studies. However, the role of NP-assisted surfactants in the dissolution process is still not well discussed. Besides, there is a lack of empirical dissolution models considering the effects of initial residual saturation Strap, NAPL distribution, and surfactant concentration in NAPL-aqueous phase systems. In this work, micromodel experiments are conducted to quantify mass transfer coefficients for different injected aqueous phases including deionized water, SDS surfactant solutions, and NP-assisted solutions with different levels of concentrations and flow rates. Observations reveal that silica nanoparticles (SNP) can significantly enhance interphase mass transfer, while SDS surfactant reduces the mass transfer coefficient. In addition, Strap and intrinsic interfacial area ai, as an indicator of dense nonaqueous phase liquids (DNAPL) distribution, influence the interphase mass transfer. The ai is also independent of DNAPL saturation SNAPL except for SNAPL < 7% when ganglia breakup occurs. Based on these observations, new empirical dissolution models are proposed in the presence and the absence of SDS surfactant and SNP in which ai, Strap, and surfactant concentrations are introduced as new parameters. The evaluated mass transfer rate coefficients using the proposed models show a significant improvement compared to available empirical models. The finding of this study might be attractive for application in field-scale simulations of surfactant-enhanced aquifer remediation (SEAR) and NP-assisted methods.

Dissolution of a surfactant-water lamellar phase investigated by combining time-lapse polarized light microscopy and confocal Raman spectroscopy

HypothesisWhile the phase behavior of aqueous surfactant solutions is usually described in term of the equilibrium microstructures of lyotropic liquid crystals, the transformations which take place when a phase turns into another one, either by changing the concentration or the temperature, are still to be elucidated. A simultaneous determination of concentration and microstructure is at order to elucidate the phase behavior under changing conditions, such as in a dissolution experiment. ExperimentsConfocal Raman micro-spectroscopy and time-lapse polarized light microscopy are combined to study the phase transitions taking place in the dissolution of a common anionic surfactant (sodium laurylethersulfate) in water. FindingsBy comparing Raman concentration profiles and polarized light images, it is found that the aqueous solution, with initial surfactant concentration of 72 wt%, undergoes a sequence of complex microstructural transformations including distortion of the initial lamellar phase, formation of an intermediate striated texture, which can be considered as a precursor of a cubic phase, and a heterogeneous hexagonal phase going through a transition region before turning into a micellar phase. The effects of the sodium counter-ion and of water confinement are also investigated by analyzing the OH-stretching bands.

New Insight into the Hierarchical Microsphere Evolution of Organic Three-Dimensional Layer Double Hydroxide: The Key Role of the Surfactant Template.

Surfactants have proven a suitable template agent for the construction of organic three-dimensional layered double hydroxide (O3D-LDH) due to the excellent self-assembled property and ready operation. Although the morphology and growth of O3D-LDH are affected by various factors (initial surfactant concentration, Mg/Al molar ratio, hydrothermal temperature, urea concentration, hydrothermal time, etc.), little is known about the key role of surfactants in the growth behavior and mechanism. In this study, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) was chosen to identify the behavior of the surfactant on the evolution of O3D-LDH with various factors. The as-grown procedure was investigated by X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller analysis. The results demonstrated that the ideal 3D roselike hierarchical structure was obtained at a Mg/Al/urea molar ratio of 2:1:10 and SDS concentration of 0.1 mol L-1 at 150 °C for 6 h. It is worth noting that SDS showed an extraordinary importance regarding the material growth, as it was intrinsically related to the formation of spherical micelles and functioned as an intercalating anion. Furthermore, a possible growth mechanism was proposed to explain the formation of O3D-LDH. Our finding opens a new insight into the role of SDS in the O3D-LDH fabrication and provides a theoretical foundation for other LDH material construction.

On the role of the surface rheology in film drainage between fluid particles

Coalescence in the presence of low surfactant concentrations is investigated via a film drainage model, where the interface is a Boussinesq surface fluid with surfactant concentration dependent physical properties. Three cases are considered representing the systems where water is the continuous phase and the dispersed phase is either high viscosity droplets, droplets of comparable viscosity to water or gas bubbles. In the former, the immobilization of the interface is due to high dispersed phase viscosity and surface viscosities, whereas in the latter two, the Marangoni flow plays an important role, too. When droplets of comparable viscosity to water or gas bubbles are considered, it is seen that both the Marangoni flow and the surface viscosities can change the coalescence time significantly for the experimentally encountered values of the initial surfactant concentration, and the Boussinesq and surface Péclet numbers. In all cases, the impact of the surface phenomena amplifies with the approach velocity, especially for the dimpled interfaces. A complete immobilization criterion that is independent of the dispersed phase viscosity is proposed as a function of the continuous phase and surface viscosities, and the particle radii.

Removal of anionic surfactants from aqueous solutions using Fe-aluminosilicate sorbents

Fe-aluminosilicate sorbents were obtained by modifying bentonite clay with iron polyoxocations and heat treatment at 400°C and 500°C. The specific surface of the sorbents determined by the method of low-temperature nitrogen adsorption was 118-136 m2 · g–1. The iron content in sorbents was equal 7.8 %. The adsorption properties of the obtained sorbents were studied with respect to anionic surfactants (sodium dodecyl sulfate and sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate) in aqueous solutions. It was shown that the modification of clay leads to a significant increase in anion-exchange capacity. The value of the adsorption capacity was in good agreement with the increase in the number of the basic groups of Fe – OH and the value of the specific surface of the sorbents. Adsorption isotherms of sodium dodecyl sulfate on bentonite clay and on Fe –aluminosilicate sorbents are described by the Langmuir adsorption isotherm equation which describes monolayer adsorption on a homogeneous surface with a correlation coefficient of 1.000 at initial surfactant concentrations of 10-1000 mg · l–1. The adsorption capacity of Fe-aluminosilicate sorbents was more than 3 times higher than the capacity of the original clay in the adsorption of sodium dodecyl sulfate and was about 5 times higher in the adsorption of sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate. The results of the study suggest that the Fe-aluminosilicate sorbents can be effective for removing anionic surfactants from wastewater.

Investigation on the performance of closed-loop pulsating heat pipe with surfactant

A three-dimensional closed-loop pulsating heat pipe (CLPHP) charged with deionized water and surfactant is numerically investigated in present work. The surfactant used in present work is hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium chloride (CTAC). The start-up performance and heat transfer characteristics of CLPHP with deionized water and surfactant are compared by changing the initial pressure (0.1 MPa, 0.07 MPa, 0.05 MPa) and input heat load (10 W, 20 W, 30 W, 40 W). It’s found that the performance of CLPHP is affected by the initial pressure, surfactant concentration and input heat load jointly. Under the condition of high initial pressure, the performance of CLPHP with surfactant is not as good as that with deionized water. However, under the condition of low initial pressure, especially at higher input heat load, the superiority of the surfactant begins to appear. Compared with the CLPHP with deionized water, the thermal resistance could be decreased by 4.78% when the initial pressure, the input heat load and the surfactant concentration is 0.05 MPa, 40 W and 50 ppm, respectively. It is also found that the CLPHP with 2000 ppm CTAC has a much lower heat transfer performance than that with deionized water under any conditions. Finally, surfactant can improve the wettability of the CLPHP wall, reduce the contact angle, and absolutely prevent the occurrence of “dry-out”.

Flow regime transitions and effects on solute transport in surfactant-driven Marangoni flows

HypothesisSurfactant-driven Marangoni flow on liquid films is predicted to depend on subphase depth and initial surface tension difference between the subphase and deposited surfactant solution drop. Changes in flow behavior will impact transport of soluble species entrained in the Marangoni flow along the surface. In extreme cases, the subphase film may rupture, limiting transport. Understanding this behavior is important for applications in drug delivery, coatings, and oil spill remediation. ExperimentsA trans-illumination optical technique measured the subphase height profiles and drop content transport after drop deposition when varying initial subphase depth, surfactant concentration, and subphase viscosity. FindingsThree distinct flow regimes were identified depending on the subphase depth and surfactant concentration and mapped onto an operating diagram. These are characterized as a “central depression” bounded by an outwardly traveling ridge, an “annular depression” bounded by a central dome and the traveling ridge, and an “annular dewetting” when the subphase ruptures. Well above the critical micelle concentration, transitions between regimes occur at characteristic ratios of gravitational and initial surface tension gradient stresses; transitions shift when surfactant dilution during spreading weakens the stress before the completion of the spreading event. Drop contents travel with the ridge, but dewetting hinders transport.

Simulation of viscoelastic two-phase flows with insoluble surfactants

A stabilized finite element scheme is developed for computations of buoyancy driven 3D-axisymmetric viscoelastic two-phase flows with insoluble surfactants. The numerical scheme solves the Navier–Stokes equations for the fluid flow, Giesekus constitutive equation for the effects of viscoelasticity and simultaneously an evolution equation for the surfactant concentration on the interface. The interface is tracked by the coupled arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian (ALE) and Lagrangian approach. The interface-resolved moving meshes allow accurate incorporation of the interfacial tension force, Marangoni forces and the jumps in the material properties. Further, the tangential gradient operator technique is used to handle the curvature approximation in a semi-implicit manner. An one-level Local Projection Stabilization (LPS), which is based on an enriched approximation space and a discontinuous projection space, where both spaces are defined on a same mesh is used to stabilize the model equations. The stabilized numerical scheme allows us to use isoparametric second order conforming finite elements enriched with cubic bubble functions for velocity and viscoelastic stress, second order finite elements for surfactant concentration and discontinuous first order finite element for pressure. A number of computations are performed for a Newtonian drop rising in a viscoelastic fluid column and a viscoelastic drop rising in a Newtonian fluid column with insoluble surfactants on the interface. The influence of the Marangoni number, initial surfactant concentration and Peclet number on the dynamics of the rising drop are analyzed. The numerical study shows that a viscoelastic drop rising in a Newtonian fluid column develops an indentation around the rear stagnation point with a dimpled shape without insoluble surfactants. The presence of insoluble surfactants forces the drop to rise slowly but the drop at the tail end is pulled up more. However, a Newtonian drop rising in a viscoelastic fluid column experiences an extended trailing edge with a cusp-like shape without insoluble surfactants. The presence of surfactants pulls the tail end of the drop up slightly and makes the tail flatter with/without small undulations depending on the magnitude of the surfactant concentrations.

Application of response surface method for removal of Cr(VI) from aqueous solutions using foam fractionation process

Discharge of heavy metals into the environment by wastewater from production and application processes is nowadays getting more and more serious due to the rapid development of such processes. Produced water during oil production and wastewater form metal plating and ore dressing are few examples to mention. In this research, removal of chromium ions from aqueous solutions has been studied by foam fractionation process using cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide as surfactant. Effect of processing time, gas flow rate, initial surfactant concentration, and initial pH on removal efficiency has been investigated. Preliminary screening tests were performed, and initial surfactant concentration and processing time were recognized as the variables with a significant effect on removal efficiency. Response surface methodology based on central composite design as a design of experiment method was employed to design experiments to study the effect of important variables more precisely. Five levels for each significant variable were considered and design of experiment. An accurate correlative model is developed for the estimation of removal efficiency under different operating conditions in foam fractionation process with a maximum relative error of 1.674%. Four sets of validation tests were also conducted, and the results of validation tests were shown to be in accordance with those obtained on tests dictated by design of experiment. Optimum operating conditions were found to be with an initial surfactant concentration of 175 ppm and 45 min of processing time that yielded 97.74% removal of Cr(VI) from a solution of 10 ppm initial concentration.

Wetting Transition at a Threshold Surfactant Concentration of Evaporating Sessile Droplets on a Patterned Surface.

Wetting transitions induced by varying the components in a solution of a drying droplet can lead to its evolving shape on a textured surface. It can provide new insights on liquid pattern control through manipulating droplet solutions. We show the pronounced transitions of wetting for surfactant solution droplets drying on a micropyramid-patterned surface. At low initial surfactant concentrations, the droplet maintains an octagonal shape until the end of drying. At intermediate initial surfactant concentrations, the early octagon spreads to a square, which later evolves to a stretched rectangle. At high initial surfactant concentrations, the droplet mainly exhibits the "octagon-to-square" transition, and the square shape is maintained until the end. The octagon-to-square transition occurs at similar temporal volume-averaged surfactant concentrations for the various initial surfactant concentrations. It results from the dependence of the surface energy change of spread over the micropyramid structure on the temporal volume-averaged surfactant concentration. At high initial surfactant concentrations, the accumulation of the surfactant near the contact line driven by outward flows could raise the local viscosity and enhance the pinning effect, leading to the great suppression of the "square-to-rectangle" transition.

Partial coalescence of droplets at oil–water interface subjected to different electric waveforms: Effects of non-ionic surfactant on critical electric field strength

Electro-coalescence technology is commonly used for separation of water from oil. However, the coalescence may not be complete at high field strengths, forming secondary droplets. This process is, hence, undesirable for separation due to the challenging removal of fine droplets. In this study, the effects of non-ionic surfactant (Tween 80) on the critical electric field strength (Ecrit) of partial coalescence of droplets present at oil–water interface were investigated. Different waveforms and frequencies were employed to gain better understanding of the phenomena. The results showed that the increase in initial droplet radius (R) or surfactant concentration may reduce Ecrit. Also, Ecrit was found to vary linearly with R−0.5 and the slope Ecrit/R−0.5 was proportional to the interfacial tension. Compared to DC electric fields, pulsatile electric field (PEF) can affect Ecrit by periodically deforming the droplet. The deformation of droplets was found to be suppressed with elevated frequencies, resulting in an increase in Ecrit. Generally, Ecrit of DC and bipolar square waveforms were the highest, indicating they were more effective in suppressing formation of secondary droplets. However, Ecrit of pulse AC may exceed that of sinusoidal AC and DC at high frequencies. These findings are useful for optimizing electro-coalescence systems.

Extraction of Cr (VI) by pickering emulsion liquid membrane using amphiphilic silica nanowires (ASNWs) as a surfactant

Pickering emulsion is the replacement of surfactants with solid, often nano-sized particles. The particle-stabilized emulsions have good thermodynamic and kinetic stability. Pickering emulsion liquid membrane (PELM) was prepared using mahua oil as a diluent, aliquat 336 (Trioctyl methylammonium chloride) as a carrier and amphiphilic silica nanowires (ASNWs) (10–40 ml ethanol addition) as a surfactant. Sodium hydroxide (NaOH) was used as stripping phase in the concentration range from 0.1 to 0.5 M for the extraction of hexavalent chromium [Cr (VI)] from aqueous solution. The variety of edible and non-edible oils was investigated for the stability of water in oil emulsion. Factors that influence silica-stabilized Pickering emulsions are pH, agitation speed, stripping phase concentration, the volume ratio of membrane to stripping phase (M/S), initial feed concentration, treat ratio(feed to emulsion volume ratio) and surfactant concentration for better PELM stability. And also, the extraction efficiency of Cr (VI) was investigated using aliquat as a carrier. The physicochemical properties of ASNWs were studied using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Fourier Transforms Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) techniques. At an optimum condition, 99.69% of Cr (VI) removal from aqueous solution was obtained.

Surfactant Partitioning in Nanoemulsions.

Using a fractionated silicone oil-in-water nanoemulsion (NEM), which has a high ratio of surface area-to-volume, we investigate surfactant partitioning between the bulk continuous phase and the adsorbed interfacial phase. By adjusting the droplet volume fraction of this fractionated NEM and by using gravimetric and electrical conductivity methods, we measure the bulk and the surface concentrations of an ionic surfactant (sodium dodecyl sulfate, SDS), thereby obtaining a raw adsorption isotherm of SDS on the interfaces of the nanodroplets. To overcome significant uncertainties in the total surface area of this nanoemulsion, we have also measured the macroscopic interfacial tension (IFT) of silicone oil in contact with aqueous SDS solutions using the du Noüy ring method. We then scale the surface concentration of this raw isotherm using an appropriate Gibbs derivative based on the IFT measurement, yielding an adjusted isotherm. We show that this adjusted isotherm can be described using a simple Langmuir equation. In addition, we show that a significant and non-negligible percentage of surfactant typically partitions to nanodroplet interfaces after high-flow-rate emulsification (HFRE) has transformed a microscale premix emulsion into a NEM. We develop a model for predicting the final bulk surfactant concentration after HFRE given the initial bulk surfactant concentration before HFRE. We show that this model can be used to predict trends for surfactant partitioning in polydisperse nanoemulsions after HFRE.

Adsorption and removal of cationic and anionic surfactants using zero-valent iron nanoparticles

This study is dedicated for adsorption of surfactants on Zero-Valent Iron (nZVI). As a nano-adsorbent, nZVI is synthesized by simple and economic method then characterized using various surface and structural techniques. These include; transmission electron micrograph (TEM), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), X-ray diffraction spectroscopy (XRD), BET surface area determination and Zeta potential (ζ–potential) of the nZVI. Nano-ZVI is tested as potential adsorbent for the removal of a cationic surfactant, hexadecylpyridinium chloride surfactant (HDPCl) and anionic surfactant, sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (DBS) from dilute solutions. The effects of different experimental parameters such as the amount of nZVI, the initial surfactant concentration, pH, shaking speed, and temperature on the system performance have been studied. The equilibrium adsorption isotherms of the HDPCl and DBS on the nZVI have been fitted with Langmuir model. The obtained thermodynamic parameters demonstrate the easiness and spontaneity of the adsorption process with favorable adsorption extent to the HDPCl compared to the DBS. This was attributed to the difference in the molecular structures. Kinetic studies show that the experimental data for HDPCl and DBS follows the Lagergren first-order kinetics. Reusing of spent nZVI is possible with adequate removal efficiencies of the surfactant molecules through multiple regeneration cycles.