Integrated process for production of surfactin: Part 1: Adsorption rate of pure surfactin onto activated carbon

The work reported in this paper is aimed at studying the adsorption of surfactin from aqueous solution onto activated carbon. Among the factors, agitation rate, activated carbon particle-size, pH, temperature, initial adsorbate concentration, adsorbent amount and ionic strength of the solution were studied. Both adsorption equilibrium and kinetics showed that activated carbon acted as a suitable adsorbent for surfactin recovery. Two mechanisms represented by different kinetic models were examined, namely, the intraparticle diffusion one and the one involving chemisorption accompanied by surface coverage (conforming to the Elovich concept).