Transport and fate of organic pollutants in the environment with emphasis on phthalate esters

Thesis/Dissertation · Sat Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1983

OSTI ID:5966175

Russell, D J

Phthalate esters (PE's), a group of compounds commonly used as plasticizers, have become ubiquitous in the environment, yet little is known about their transport and ultimate fate. For the analysis of nine PE's in environmental samples, a dual column liquid chromatography separation scheme was developed. This enabled PE's to be analyzed, along with PCB's and chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticides, from a single sample extract by gas chromatography with an electron capture detector (GC/ECD). Concentrations of several PE's were determined in soils and sediments from the Southern Tier area of NY and eastern PA, and in leachate from the Broom Co., NY, Sanitary Landfill. The GC/ECD system was optimized for PE's including a study of the decreasing ECD response of the PE's with increasing detector temperatures. Investigations into the biodegradation of three PE's in the laboratory showed that all were removed from soil-water suspensions within 5 days; biodegradation thus is a probable source of PE removal in the environment. PE solubilities in DDW and in leachate showed a linear decrease with increasing MW, with the latter showing an enhanced solubility for lower MW PE's and a decreased solubility for higher MW PE's. Further investigations with electrolyte solutions indicated this may be due to a combination of salting out effects and solubility enhancement due to other dissolved organics in the leachate. Three representative PE's: diethyl, di-n-butyl, and di-2-ethylhexyl were found to have low, medium, and high soil/water partition coefficients (K/sub p/'s) respectively.

• OSTI ID: 5966175
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

510200* -- Environment
Terrestrial-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AROMATICS
BETA DECAY
BIODEGRADATION
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CHLORINATED AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
CHROMATOGRAPHY
CONTAMINATION
DECAY
DECOMPOSITION
DISPERSIONS
ELECTRON CAPTURE DECAY
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
ESTERS
GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY
HALOGENATED AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
LAND POLLUTION
LEACHATES
LIQUID COLUMN CHROMATOGRAPHY
MANAGEMENT
MASS TRANSFER
MIXTURES
ORGANIC CHLORINE COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
PESTICIDES
PHTHALIC ACID ESTERS
POLLUTION
REMOVAL
SANITARY LANDFILLS
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SOILS
SOLUTIONS
SOLVENT PROPERTIES
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT