Effectiveness of different oxidizing agents for removing sodium dodecylbenzenesulphonate in aqueous systems

The present study investigates the efficacy of various oxidizing treatments (ClO−, ClO2, KMnO4, O3, O3/H2O2, O3/activated carbon) to remove from waters sodium dodecylbenzenesulphonate (SDBS), considered as model surfactant. Results obtained show that the use of ClO− and ClO2 does not cause appreciable SDBS degradation. Additionally, in the case of ClO−, trihalomethanes are generated, increasing system toxicity. Because the reaction kinetics between SDBS and KMnO4 is very slow, a decrease in contaminant concentration is not observed, even at very acid pH values. SDBS reactivity with ozone is very low, with a kinetic constant (kO3)(kO3) of 3.68 M−1 s−1, but its reactivity with HO radicals is very high (kOH = 1.16 × 1010 M−1 s−1), therefore O3/H2O2 and O3/activated carbon, which can also generate HO, appear as promising advanced oxidation processes to remove this contaminant from waters. The method based on ozone and activated carbon was the only process studied that produced both an increase in SDBS removal rate (due to the generation of HO radicals in the O3–PAC or O3–GAC interaction) and a considerable reduction in the concentration of dissolved organic carbon in the system due to the PAC adsorbent properties.