Removal of alkylphenols from polluted sites using surfactant-assisted soil washing and photocatalysis.

Background And Purpose: Surfactant-assisted soil washing and photocatalysis are well-known remediation processes of environmental concern. The application of photocatalysis to treat soil washing extracts containing 4-methylphenol, 4-ethylphenol and 4-tert-butylphenol in the presence of nonionic (C(12)E(8) and C(12)E(23)) and anionic (SDS) surfactants and some of their binary mixtures was investigated in this work by studying the pollutants degradation in the presence of TiO(2) dispersions irradiated with simulated solar light.

Materials And Methods: Clean soil samples were spiked with the investigated alkylphenols.