REMOVAL EFFICIENCY OF ANIONIC AND NONIONIC SURFACTANTS FROM CHEMICAL WASTE-WATER BY A TREATMENT-PLANT USING ACTIVATED CARBON ADSORPTION AND COAGULATION PRECIPITATION PROCESSES

Removal efficiency of anionic (Sodium n‐Dodecylbenzenesulfonate) and nonionic (Heptaoxyethylene Dodecyl Ether) surfactants from chemical wastewater by a treatment plant using activated carbon adsorption and coagulation precipitation processes was investigated. The results showed that anionic and nonionic surfactants were removed from the wastewater by the treatment with.the respective average removal efficiency of 67.4 % and 31.7 %. However, our experiments showed that the increase in reaction time of activated carbon adsorption to 15 min sufficiently improved the removal efficiency of both anionic and nonionic surfactants. Coagulation precipitation process was very effective to remove anionic surfactants, but not so effective as expected for nonionic surfactants. © 1990 Publications Division Selper Ltd.