Sorption of perfluorooctane sulfonate on organo-montmorillonites

Perfluorinated compound as one of the emerging pollutants has caused great attention in recent years. In this study, the organo-montmorillonites (organo-Mts) with different amounts and arrangements of hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (HDTMAB) were prepared as effective sorbents for PFOS removal from water. Batch sorption experiments including sorption kinetics, sorption isotherm as well as effect of solution pH were studied. The Elovich and pseudo-second-order models were selected to fit the kinetic data and the latter described the sorption kinetic better. Sorption isotherms showed that the sorption amount of PFOS increased with increasing amount of HDTMAB loaded in the montmorillonites, indicating that hydrophobic interaction played an important role in the sorption process. Comparative sorption of other perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) with different length of C–F chains and different functional groups further verified that hydrophobic interaction was the main force for the sorption of PFCs on the organo-Mts. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis demonstrated the significant decrease of interlayer distance after PFOS sorption, suggesting that the HDTMAB molecules were rearranged in the interlayer of organo-Mts. The PFOS molecules first diffused into the organo-Mts via hydrophobic interaction, and then the rearrangement occurred through electrostatic interaction between the two surfactants, resulting in the microstructure change within the organo-Mts.