Adsorption of surfactants by a finely-divided chelating resin

Small ion-exchange resin particles can be separated from solutions id which they have been dispersed by notation. If the resin is conditioned with surfactant before contacting the pregnant/elution solution, it becomes sufficiently hydrophobic for effective notation, without adding collectors to the solution being treated. To better understand the interaction of surfactants with a chelating resin, the adsorption and desorption of four different surfactants on Dow's XFS4195 resin was studied. The resin material used had a particle diameter of less than 125 mu m(dry). The four surfactants that were studied were: sodium dodecylsulfonate, sodium tetradecylsulfonate, sodium hexadecylsulfonate and dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid. The adsorption data could be described by a Langmuir adsorption isotherm. The monolayer concentration of the surfactants ranged from 1.7 . 10(-3) to 2.1 . 10(-3) moles per gram dried resin. Desorption of surfactants was found to occur and the extent of desorption depended on the solution used for desorption.