Removal of Pyrene in Soil by Colloidal Gas Aphrons of Prepared from Biodegradable Surfactant

Two commercial biodegradable and non-toxic surfactants (BioSolve and BioNonex) were studiedfor efficiency of pyrene removal from soil. Pumice was used as a model of natural soil with free of organicmaterial. Natural soil taken from KMUTT campus was also used in the experiment. Pumice and natural soilwere pretreated by soaking in pyrene solution to obtain the pyrene loading at various concentrations. Inpreliminary study, BioNonex solution could remove pyrene from pumice better than BioSolve solution atthe same concentration. The removal of pyrene by colloidal gas aphron (CGA) of BioNonex was conductedin a packed column of pumice operated in continuous up-flow mode. It was demonstrated that BioNonexCGA could remove pyrene more efficiently than BioNonex solution and water particularly based on theaqueous volume. The initial rate of removal was high and retarded after 2 h. 7% BioNonex CGA providedthe maximum rate of pyrene removal which decreased from 120 mg/h to 40 mg/h within 2 h. Keywords : Biodegradable surfactant / Colloidal gas aphron / Pyrene / Remediation / Pumice