Abstract
Surface tension, sedimentation, and turbidity experiments were conducted in order to study the synergism behavior of some surfactants with ethyl xanthat mixtures on the reduction of surface tension of their aqueous solutions and on the hydrophilicity of clay surface for using it as absorbent to oil in wastewater treatment. The following systems were studied: 1) potassium ethyl xanthat (KEX) with sodium cetyl sulphate (SCS); 2) potassium ethyl xanthat with cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB); and 3) potassium ethyl xanthat with ethoxylated palmetic acid (EPA). A synergistic effect of the combined reagents was found to enhance the hydrophilicity of clay and also to reduce the surface tension depending mainly on the surface properties of the mixtures.