Adsorption of Non-Ionic Ethylene Oxide Adducts on Porous Styrene-Divinylbenzene Copolymers.

In the reported experiments, the adsorption of p-n-nonylphenyl polyglycol ethers on macroporous, styrene-divinylbenzene copolymers was examined. The styrene-divinylbenzene resins proved to be very suitable as adsorbents for the alkylphenyl polyglycol ethers. Pre-treating the resins with methanol improves their adsorption capacity for nonionic surfactants. The amount of surfactant adsorbed decreases with increasing molecular weight and increasing critical micelle concentration of the surfactant. Electrolytes increase the amount of surfactant adsorbed. With methanol, regenerating effects of 90-100% are possible. Slightly acid cationic exchange resins based on divinyl benzene acrylate are - as was shown in comparative tests - better adsorbents for alkylphenol polyglycol ethers in their H** plus form than the macro-reticular styrene-divinyl benzene resins.