New adsorbents based on microemulsion modified diatomite and activated carbon for removing organic and inorganic pollutants from waste lubricants

Abstract The treatment of wastes has become one of the most important concerns of modern society to protect the environment. Application of microemulsion modified raw local diatomite (μE-MD) and activated carbon (μE-MAC) as solid extractants for removing inorganic (iron, copper and lead ions) and organic pollutants (soot, oxidations, nitration and sulphation products) from waste lubricants (WL) at a moderate heat have been presented. The results summarised herein are also part of an investigation conducted to evaluate the adsorption removal by taking into consideration the experimental parameters such as initial pollutant concentration and temperature. The raw and modified adsorbents were effective towards all pollutants especially for the inorganic pollutants with high removal percentages (Fe: 34–68%, Cu: ∼65%, Pb: 55–80%) and (oxidation: 7–15%, nitration: 41–46%, sulphation: 5–29%, soot: 42–61%) which indicated the suitability of these new materials for extraction of organic and inorganic pollutants from non-aqueous WL medium. The removal percentages, however, varied from adsorbent to another“. The pH zpc (pH at point of zero charge) was carefully estimated for all adsorbents (raw diatomite (RD), μE-MD, activated carbon (AC), μE-MAC) and found to be (8.6, 7.8, 7.3, 9.1), respectively. The experimental results were also plotted and treated with Langmuir isotherm, uncommon isotherm shapes were obtained. Therefore, it was not fitted to the experimental results which might reflect a complex nature of adsorbing onto the adsorbents. However, this behaviour gave an indication on the complex adsorption mechanisms. Finally, the mode of interaction between the pollutants and the μE-MD and μE-MAC was characterised by comparing the changes in the position and intensity of the surface functional groups using the FTIR technique. Three mechanisms of the adsorption of organic (oxidation, nitration and sulphation) and inorganic (heavy metals) pollutants were possible: (i) adsorption by an electrostatic force of the anionic head group of the surfactant and the positive charge of the organic molecules or the cation metal, (ii) adsorption by tail groups of the surfactant and the hydrophobic character of the organic molecules. The cation heavy metals and the organic compounds have basic characteristics and therefore were expected to interact strongly with the anionic head groups of the surfactants (RCOO − ). In the contrary, the cationic heavy metals were not expected to interact by the tail groups of the surfactant where the ionic radii of these ions may explain the differences between every metals removal percentage and (iii) filling the channel (pores) of the RD and the AC by dissolving in the microemulsion micelles.