Effect of Nonionic Surfactants on Dissolution of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons from Coal Tar
Publication: Practice Periodical of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste Management
Volume 4, Issue 2
Abstract
The remediation in the subsurface of low solubility compounds such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) might be limited by their dissolution kinetics. Other studies have already proven that the addition of surfactants will enhance the solubility and dissolution rates of pure single-hydrophobic compounds in water. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the addition of two nonionic surfactants (Tween 20 and Tween 21) to a complex mixture (coal tar) would similarly enhance the dissolution rates of five PAHs contained within the coal tar. The five PAHs analyzed were naphthalene, phenanthrene, fluoranthene, pyrene, and benzo(a)pyrene. Through a series of partitioning experiments, it was discovered that the partitioning coefficients increased with increasing PAH ring structure. Dissolution experiments showed that the solubilities and dissolution rates of the PAHs also increased in the presence of the two surfactants. Finally, it was found that Tween 21, being the more hydrophobic surfactant, caused a greater enhancement in PAH dissolution rates than did Tween 20.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
1.
Edwards, D. A., Luthy, R. G., and Zhongbao.“Solubilization of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in micellar nonionic surfactant solutions.” (1991). Envir. Sci. and Technol., 25, 127–133.
2.
Emulsifiers and detergents. (1993). North American edition. McCutcheon Publishing, Glen Rock, N.J., 201.
3.
Grimberg, S. J., Miller, C. T., and Aitken, M. (1996). “Surfactant-enhanced dissolution of phenanthrene into water for laminar flow conditions.” Envir. Sci. and Technol., 30, 2967–2974.
4.
Grimberg, S. J., Nagel, J., and Aitken, M. (1995). “Kinetics of Phenanthrene dissolution into water in the presence of nonionic surfactants.” Envir. Sci. and Technol., 29, 1480–1487.
5.
Lee, L. S., Rao, S. C., and Okuda, I. (1992). “Equilibrium partitioning of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from coal tar into water.” Envir. Sci. and Technol., 26, 2110–2115.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
History
Received: Nov 23, 1999
Published online: Apr 1, 2000
Published in print: Apr 2000
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.