Removal of anionic contaminants by surfactant modified powdered activated carbon (SM-PAC) combined with ultrafiltration

A variety of inorganic contaminants may form toxic oxyanions in aqueous systems which pose significant hazard to human health and the ecosystem. In order to remove the oxyanions from aqueous stream effectively, surfactant-modified powdered activated carbon (SM-PAC) combined with ultrafiltration (UF) was proposed in this study. As the cationic surfactant, cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC), adsorbs on the surface of PAC, the zeta potential of PAC increases to +40 mV. Oxyanions such as chromate, ferricyanide and arsenate bind on SM-PAC by electrostatic interaction, then the contaminants bound with SM-PAC can be separated by UF membrane. 0.3 mM of chromate and ferricyanide are removed completely with 4.0 g/L of SM-PAC. In case of arsenate, the removal efficiency was lower than chromate and ferricyanide. It is considered that the competition occurs among anionic pollutants on the limited binding sites of SM-PAC and lower valence of arsenate results in the lower removal efficiency. High permeate flux is maintained during filtration. The spent SM-PAC was regenerated by the concentrated Cl− solutions. NaCl solution whose molar Cl− concentration is 1.4 times higher than the contaminants bound on SM-PAC was optimal for the regeneration. Regenerated SM-PAC exhibited similar adsorption capacity to fresh SM-PAC. SM-PAC combined with UF can effectively remove anionic contaminants. Moreover, the simple and efficient regeneration process is proposed.