Removal of MTBE From Contaminated Waters Using Activated Carbon and Organoclay

The use of MTBE as a gasoline additive for the purpose of enhancing octane number and thereby improving gasoline burning has reduced pollution caused by incomplete burning of gasoline. On the other hand this material dissolves easily in water and also evaporates quickly. Also¡ if MTBE is spilled on soil¡ some of it can seep into groundwater where it can remain unchanged for many years. In this study¡ the removal of this material using adsorption on activated carbon and organoclay was studied. Laboratory results showed that activated carbon is more appropriate (99% MTBE removal) than the organoclay (95-96% MTBE removal) to remove MTBE from the contaminated waters.Also adsorption isotherms on both the adsorbents are linear.