Solubility Increase of Chlorinated Organics Using Cosolvents with Application to Site Remediation - 18431
- Howard University (United States)
Chlorinated hydrocarbons, such as trichloroethylene (TCE) and carbon tetrachloride (CCl{sub 4}) were heavily used for various industrial applications. Due to frequent use and disposal, chlorinated hydrocarbons are ubiquitous contaminants in ground water and soil. Because of their relatively low solubility, they are present as dense non-aqueous phase liquids (DNAPLs), which makes them long-term sources of dissolved contaminants. Research studies were done to determine effective cosolvents that will enhance solubility of chlorinated hydrocarbons in water. Two types of household cosolvents: alcohols and detergents were investigated. These cosolvents decrease surface tension between two liquids and therefore enhance mixing. Detergents, a subset of surfactants, are molecules with hydrophobic tails and hydrophilic heads that surround the organic compound and form micelles. As more micelles form, surface tension between liquid-liquid or solid-liquid molecules decreases, thereby increasing the solubility of hydrocarbons in water-cosolvent mixtures. In this research, alcohols - methanol, ethanol, and isopropanol, and household detergents - OxiClean{sup TM} and Tide{sup TM} were used to increase TCE solubility in water. To summarize: (i) All selected cosolvents met the selected criteria: inexpensive, nontoxic, biodegradable, water soluble and easy to pump. (ii) Addition of all cosolvents (alcohols and household detergents) to water proved effective in increasing the TCE solubility, in some cases by orders of magnitude. (iii) Of the three alcohols tested, isopropyl alcohol performed the best (followed by ethanol and methanol) solubilizing almost all the available TCE (40,000 ppm), but at very high concentrations of alcohol approaching 50%. (iv) Household detergents, Tide{sup TM} and OxiClean{sup TM} achieved very high dissolution of TCE at concentrations 30 times lower than alcohol. Ternary diagrams for both TCE and CCl{sub 4} displayed their higher miscibility in water, in the presence of co-solvents. (authors)
- Research Organization:
- WM Symposia, Inc., PO Box 27646, 85285-7646 Tempe, AZ (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 22977726
- Report Number(s):
- INIS-US--20-WM-18431
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
CARBON TETRACHLORIDE
DETERGENTS
DNAPL
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
ETHANOL
GROUND WATER
LAND POLLUTION
METHANOL
NONRADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT
PROPANOLS
REMEDIAL ACTION
SOILS
SOLUBILITY
SOLVENTS
SURFACE TENSION
WATER POLLUTION