Comparative Study of the Adsorption and Desorption Behavior of Single and Multi-Ring Aromatics in Sediment Fractions

Chiedu N. Owabor, Samuel E. Agarry, Bamidele V. Ayodele, Ikechukwu S. Udeh, Endurance Ehiosun

Department of Chemical Engineering, Ladoke Akintola University, Ogbomoso, Nigeria.
Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria.

DOI: 10.4236/aces.2013.31007                

Abstract

The sorption behaviour of benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene, xylene and naphthalene using clay and sand sediments under ambient conditions is examined in this study. Experimental results showed that, the time taken to attain adsorption equilibrium for naphthalene, and BTEX were 28, 30, 30, 32, 28 hrs and 20, 22, 22, 24, 22 hrs while the desorption equilibrium time were 10, 13, 12, 15, 12 hrs and 9, 9, 9, 11, 10 hrs in clay and sand respectively. All of the naphthalene, and BTEX were adsorbed at the different equilibrium times, using clay while the amount of naphthalene and BTEX adsorbed by sand, at different equilibrium times were 117, 121, 127, 123 and 134 mg. Following the results of the adsorption/desorption experiments, quantitative measurements showed that sand exhibited higher affinity for the solute as retained more chemicals (as high as between 58% - 66%) within it pores while nearly all the chemicals adsorbed by the clay were released at the attainment of equilibrium. The implication of this is that occlusion within the sand particles may likely be the resultant effect of continued sand-chemicals contact. The amount of contaminant solute adsorbed and desorbed affirmed that clay has a better capacity to retain naphthalene and BTEX than sand and this may not be unrelated to its large surface area, high porosity and higher hydraulic conductivity for the solutes arising from its good binding sites (small pore sizes) that tend to hold the adsorbates to its particles.

Keywords

Equilibrium; Kinetic Models; Pollutants; Pore Spaces; Surface Area; Permeability

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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