Fate and transport of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in soil under the influence of surfactants

Conference · Sun Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1995

OSTI ID:210422

Sun, X Y; Goc, B; Rueppel, M L; Puri, R ^[1]

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1. Univ. of Missouri, Columbia, MO (United States)

This paper presents a study to evaluate the mobility and sorption of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in soils under the influence of surfactants at different concentrations. Three surfactants were examined: anionic, nonionic, and cationic. The experiment was designed to correlate the aqueous PAH concentrations with surfactant concentrations. Measurements were made of apparent critical micelle concentrations (CMCs) from the water-soil/aqueous-surfactant system by using the surface tension method. Solutions were made from each of the three surfactants with concentrations lower and higher than their apparent CMC. After centrifugation, the supernatants were treated, subjected to solvent extraction, and analyzed. For surfactant concentrations above the CMC value, the concentrations of the PAHs were also increased. However, concentrations below CMC values showed no effect except for the nonionic surfactant. All PAHs tested, including those with high molecular weight, showed significant mobility in the aqueous phase under the influence of surfactants. The sigmoid curves showed a plateau at higher concentrations of surfactants, beyond which further increase in surfactants did not affect the PAH mobility.

• OSTI ID: 210422
• Report Number(s): CONF-9509139--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
CONCENTRATION RATIO
DECONTAMINATION
EFFICIENCY
POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
SOILS
SOLVENT EXTRACTION
SURFACTANTS