A strategy for the efficient removal of chlorophenols in petrochemical wastewater by organophilic and aminated silica@alginate microbeads: Taguchi optimization and isotherm modeling based on partition coefficient

Sherif A Younis; Eman A Motawea; Yasser M Moustafa; Jechan Lee; Ki-Hyun Kim

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.122792

A strategy for the efficient removal of chlorophenols in petrochemical wastewater by organophilic and aminated silica@alginate microbeads: Taguchi optimization and isotherm modeling based on partition coefficient

J Hazard Mater. 2020 Oct 5:397:122792. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.122792. Epub 2020 Apr 24.

Authors

Sherif A Younis¹, Eman A Motawea², Yasser M Moustafa³, Jechan Lee⁴, Ki-Hyun Kim⁵

Affiliations

¹ Analysis and Evaluation Department, Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute (EPRI), Nasr City, 11727, Cairo, Egypt; Liquid Chromatography and Water Analysis Unit, EPRI-Central Laboratories, Nasr City, 11727, Cairo, Egypt; Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Hanyang University, 222 Wangsimni-Ro, Seoul, 04763, Republic of Korea.
² Analysis and Evaluation Department, Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute (EPRI), Nasr City, 11727, Cairo, Egypt; Liquid Chromatography and Water Analysis Unit, EPRI-Central Laboratories, Nasr City, 11727, Cairo, Egypt.
³ Analysis and Evaluation Department, Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute (EPRI), Nasr City, 11727, Cairo, Egypt; Liquid Chromatography and Water Analysis Unit, EPRI-Central Laboratories, Nasr City, 11727, Cairo, Egypt. Electronic address: ymoustafa12@yahoo.com.
⁴ Department of Environmental and Safety Engineering, Ajou University, Suwon, 16499, Republic of Korea.
⁵ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Hanyang University, 222 Wangsimni-Ro, Seoul, 04763, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: kkim61@hanyang.ac.kr.

PMID: 32387832
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.122792

Abstract

Through in situ encapsulation of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and urea-functionalized SiO₂ nanoparticles in alginate hydrogel, two types of new functionalized microbeads, CTAB-SiO₂@alginate (organophilic) and urea-SiO₂@alginate (aminated), were produced. Their adsorption behavior toward multiple chlorophenols (CPs: e.g., 4-chlorophenol (MCP), 2,4-dichlorophenol (DCP), and 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (TCP)) in petrochemical wastewater was assessed with the aid of Taguchi's L9 orthogonal array at three levels. In terms of the partition coefficient (PC: μmol/g·μM (or L/g)), the use of three-parameter models (hybrid Langmuir-Freundlich and Redlich-Peterson) yielded the best fit (R² ≈ 1). Furthermore, the performance evaluation in terms of PC metric indicated that CTAB-SiO₂@alginate (7.85 L/g) was better to treat total CPs than urea-modified SiO₂@alginate microbeads (3.83 L/g). The enhanced performance of the former reflects the significant contribution of CTAB functionality (sp² carbon tail and quaternary amine (N⁺) cationic head sites) for accelerating uptake of molecular (or suspended) and ionizable CPs molecules (e.g., with the aid of salting-out effect at a high initial CPs concentration and salinity) via hydrophobic/electrostatic interactions. The high performance of the CTAB-SiO₂@alginate was demonstrated against petroleum hydrocarbons, CPs, and phenol contaminants using real petrochemical wastewater (up to three reusable cycles).

Keywords: CTAB and urea functionalities; Chlorophenols pollutants; Partition coefficient; SiO(2)-alginate microbeads; Taguchi optimization.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't