Study of an organoclay for the sorption of dissolved organic compounds in the wastewaters from offshore platform operation

摘要

The goal of this research work was to find a sorbent able to selectively retain the harmfulndissolved compounds in the wastewaters from offshore platform operation but not the carboxylicnacids and to study the effects of the most important parameters on the sorption process.nBTX compounds (benzene, toluene and p-xylene) and acetic acid were chosen as thenrepresentatives of the harmful compounds and carboxylic acids groups respectively since theynare found in the highest concentrations. An organically modified clay was determined to be thenmost suitable sorbent, where performance was evaluated at different values of pH (3, 5 and 8),nacetic acid concentration (0, 160 and 320 mg/l), salinity (0, 35 and 70 g/l) and temperaturen(20, 40 and 608C). Results show that there is a sorption competition between BTX and aceticnacid. Sorption of BTX compounds decreased with increasing initial acetic acid concentration andntemperature, and increased proportionally with the salinity. Sorption of acetic acid, however,ndecreased with increasing pH, temperature and salinity.