Among pharmaceutical products (PPs) recalcitrant to water treatments, diclofenac shows a high toxicity and remains at high concentration in natural aquatic environments. The aim of this study concerns the understanding of the adsorption mechanism of this anionic PP onto two organoclays prepared with two long-alkyl chains cationic surfactants showing different chemical nature for various experimental pH and temperature conditions. The experimental data obtained by a set of complementary techniques (X-ray diffraction, elemental analyses, gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy) and the use of Langmuir, Freundlich and Dubinin-Radushkevish equation models, reveal that organoclays show a good affinity to diclofenac which is enhanced as the temperature is under 35°C and for pH above 4.5 (i.e. >pKa of diclofenac) while the chemical nature of surfactant appears to play a minor role. The thermodynamic parameters derived from the fitting procedure point out the strong electrostatic interaction with organic cations adsorbed within the interlayer space in the organoclays for the adsorption of diclofenac. This study stress out the application of organoclays for the adsorption of a recalcitrant PPs in numerous aquatic compartments that can be used as a complement with activated carbon for waste water treatment.

A Na-smectite clay mineral (Na-Mt) was exchanged with various amounts of benzyldimethyltetradecyl ammonium chloride cationic surfactant (BDTAC) up to four times the cation exchange capacity (CEC). The adsorption properties of these organoclays as well as a coupled micelle/organoclay process were evaluated to remove an anionic pharmaceutical product, the diclofenac (DCF), recognized as a recalcitrant compound for conventional water treatments and to be poorly adsorbed onto untreated clay mineral. The DCF affinity appears to depend on the lipophilic character of organoclays in correlation to the density of intercalated BDTA and is particularly enhanced for sorbent systems with free surfactant or micelle in solution. The combination of both organclay and BDTA in excess or micelle as a one pot adsorption system appears to be the most efficient material for the sequestration of DCF and other pharmaceutical products (PPs) with a KF Freundlich constant of 1.7 L g(-1) and no restriction of the adsorbed DCF amount as the linear adsorption isotherm shows. A BDTA hydrophobic core micelle coupled with a positive electric charge forms an organic complex with DCF that is properly intercalated within the interlayer space of BDTA-Mt organoclays as both Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) data supported.