Effect of ionic surfactants on the settling behavior of silt

Ionic surfactants are easily adsorbed by silt and clay particles, thus affecting the flocculation characteristics and settling behavior. The settling velocity, typical size, Zeta potential and surface tension of silt flocs were measured in the presence of two different kinds of ionic surfactants. The results indicated that the cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB, a typical cationic surfactant) can dramatically accelerate the settling of slit particles, while the linear alkylbenzene sulfonate (LAS, a typical anionic surfactant) slightly retarded silt sedimentation to some extent. In still water, the representative settling velocity dramatically increased from 0.36 cm s(−1) to 0.43 cm s(−1) with the increase of CTAB concentration, which increased by more than 20%. Oppositely, the sedimentation rate decreased from 0.36 cm s(−1) to 0.33 cm s(−1) with the increase of LAS concentration. In flowing water, as the flow rate increased from 0 to 20 cm s(−1) and the ionic surfactant concentration increased from 0 to 10 mg L(−1), the sedimentation rate decreased to 57% and 89% in the presence of CTAB and LAS respectively, which was due to an enhanced dispersion of silt particles and a breaking of flocs. The SEM image test shows that the floc particle size increased 1.5 times of the primary particle size under the high CTAB concentration. The flocculation induced by ionic surfactants greatly influences the sediment size as well as the law of settling velocity. The intrinsic influence mechanism was also discussed based on the variations of silt particle properties. This systematic study can be used for further development of flocculation models and particle size distribution of fine-grained soil.