4 Int. J. Environmental Engineering, Vol. 2, Nos. 1/2/3, 2010 Copyright © 2010 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. Remediation of simazine from water through low-pressure thin film composite membrane using surfactants Yogesh Reverse Osmosis Discipline, Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSIR), Bhavnagar, Gujarat 364002, India E-mail: yogesh@csmcri.org H.R. Brahmbhatt Analytical Sciences Division, Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSIR), Bhavnagar, Gujarat 364002, India E-mail: harshadb@csmcri.org A. Bhattacharya* Reverse Osmosis Discipline, Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSIR), Bhavnagar, Gujarat 364002, India E-mail: bhattacharyaamit1@rediffmail.com *Corresponding author Abstract: The investigation was carried out to remediate simazine from water by the pressure driven filtration techniques (viz. nanofiltration, reverse osmosis). The separation of simazine through the membranes showed similar trend as glucose (organic marker) and salt. Surfactant-mediated filtration showed better performance of the membranes, though it depends on the nature of membranes and surfactants. The membranes having more porous (in terms of glucose and water permeability) structure showed improvement in the separation of simazine. The Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate (SDS) added water contaminated with simazine shows better separation with respect to Cetyl Trimethyl Ammonium Bromide (CTAB). Pure water Flux Recovery Ratio (FRR) is higher for the membranes dealt with SDS with respect to CTAB. Keywords: thin film composite membrane; simazine; glucose; SDS; sodium dodecyl sulphate; CTAB; cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Yogesh, Brahmbhatt, H. and Bhattacharya, A. (2010) ‘Remediation of simazine from water through low-pressure thin film composite membrane using surfactants’, Int. J. Environmental Engineering, Vol. 2, Nos. 1/2/3, pp.4–14.