Nonionic surfactants adsorption onto activated carbon. Influence of the polar chain length

The adsorption of a nonionic surfactants series characterized by a different length of the hydrophilic tail on an activated carbon has been studied over a wide concentration range. Adsorption isotherms show two steps limited by the critical micelle concentration (c.m.c.) of the surfactants. The adsorption extension depends on the oxyethylenic chain length, in such way that the amount adsorbed decreases with increasing the chain length, although the effect is much lower for the longest polar chains. In the concentration range below the c.m.c. of the surfactants, the molecules are adsorbed by direct interactions with the activated carbon surface, but with different configuration of the polyoxyethylene chain (POE) directed to the aqueous phase. For concentrations above the c.m.c., the adsorption takes place by the interactions between the adsorbed surfactants molecules and differences related to the length of the hydrophilic chain are also found.