Laboratory and field investigation of surfactant sorption using single-well, push-pull tests

Journal Article · · Ground Water

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6584.1999.tb01146.x· OSTI ID:6168937

Istok, J D; Field, J A; Schroth, M H; Sawyer, T E; Humphrey, M D ^[1]

---

1. Oregon State Univ., Corvallis, OR (United States)

Sorption to aquifer sediments can limit the effectiveness of surfactants injected to solubilize residual nonaqueous phase liquid contaminants in the subsurface. The objective of this study was to evaluate the ability of the single-well, push-pull test to characterize sorption of linear alkylbenzene sulfonate (LAS) and hexadecyl diphenyl oxide disulfonate (DOWFAX) surfactants to natural aquifer sediment in situ. Batch sorption isotherms for both surfactants exhibited Langmuir-type sorption behavior with larger apparent sorption maxima for LAS than for DOWFAX. However, numerical transport simulations based on batch sorption isotherms were unable to predict the retardation and chromatographic separation of LAS homologs and conservative transport of DOWFAX observed during laboratory and field push-pull tests, indicating that the single-well, push-pull test method can more accurately describe in situ surfactant sorption and transport behavior than batch sorption isotherms.

• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: FG07-96ER14721
• OSTI ID: 6168937
• Journal Information: Ground Water, Vol. 37:4; ISSN 0017-467X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AQUIFERS
BENCH-SCALE EXPERIMENTS
CHLORINATED ALIPHATIC HYDROCARBONS
FIELD TESTS
GROUND WATER
REMEDIAL ACTION
SORPTION
SURFACTANTS
WATER POLLUTION CONTROL
CONTROL
HALOGENATED ALIPHATIC HYDROCARBONS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC CHLORINE COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
POLLUTION CONTROL
TESTING
WATER
540220* - Environment
Terrestrial- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport- (1990-)