Pollution Control

We have developed a novel synthesis method for the efficient production of a useful, biodegradable surfactant obtained using a novel and efficient chemical reaction between cysteine (a thiol-based amino acid) and an octanoyl compound. The synthesized surfactant is effective over a wide pH range and can be decomposed in natural products. The surfactant has a high affinity to remove various heavy metal ions including Hg (II), Pb (II), As (III), Cd (II) and Cr (VI) in drinking water and so these ions can be removed using a typical ion flotation process. Other ions like strontium (Sr) and lanthanum (La) also can be removed in aqueous solutions using this surfactant in a continuous air-bubbling flow. The compound might also be useful for the release of pre fluorinated alkylated substances (PFAS) present as contaminants in soil and ground waters, as these compounds mostly bind on active components on the soil via bridging multi-valent cations, which the surfactant has a high ability to encapsulate. The action of this chelating surfactant to help with the release of PFAS compounds could be facilitated using a fluidized bed, via air bubbling, which could form the basis for an efficient foam fractionation process to remove PFAS contaminants. The synthesized surfactant was also characterized with elemental analysis, mass spectroscopy, FT-IR, melting point (MP) and critical micelle concentration (CMC) fractionation.