Regeneration of spent organoclays after the sorption of organic pollutants: A review

• Published in: Journal of environmental management Vol. 90; no. 11; pp. 3212 - 3216
• Main Authors: Zhu, Runliang, Zhu, Jianxi, Ge, Fei, Yuan, Peng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.08.2009; Elsevier; Academic Press Ltd
• Subjects: Adsorption; Aluminum Silicates; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Applied ecology; biodegradation; Biological; Biological and medical sciences; Biology; Clay; clay minerals; Conservation, protection and management of environment and wildlife; Cost analysis; Desorption; Ecotoxicology, biological effects of pollution; Environmental management; Environmental Monitoring; Extraction; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General aspects; groundwater contamination; heat treatment; ions; Minerals; Organic pollutants; Organoclays; oxidation; photolysis; Pollutants; Pollution control; Regeneration; remediation; Soil Pollutants - chemistry; soil pollution; Soils; Sorption; Waste management; Wastewater treatment; Water Pollutants, Chemical - chemistry; Water treatment; Regeneration; Organic pollutants; Organoclays; Pollution control; Sorption; Pollutant; Review; Environmental management
• ISSN: 0301-4797; 1095-8630
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2009.06.015

Clay minerals modified with organic ions, also known as organoclays, have found applications in a wide range of organic pollution control fields because of their excellent sorption capacity towards organic pollutants. Regeneration of the spent organoclays after the sorption of organic pollutants is of great importance during their application in pollution control. In this review, the reported methods for the regeneration of the spent organoclays are summarized, including biological degradation, photo-assisted oxidation, chemical extraction/desorption, supercritical extraction, thermal desorption, et al. The characteristics and applications of these methods are briefly described. It shows that most of these methods have been developed for regenerating spent organoclays from wastewater treatment. The biological regeneration method, as an in situ, low cost and easy-operating method, is applicable for regenerating spent organoclays not only from wastewater treatment, but also from soil and groundwater remediation.