PARTITIONING OF CHLOROBENZENES BETWEEN SUSPENDED PARTICULATES AND WATER IN COASTAL WATERS

Dissolved and suspended particulate adsorbed chlorobenzene (CB) concen trations were surveyed in Ise Bay, Japan. A plume with high concentrat ions of dissolved dichlorobenzenes, trichlorobenzenes, and tetrachloro benzenes was found in the surface layer from Yokkaichi Port to the bor der of the city Tokoname, indicating that these chemicals from Yokkaic hi petrochemical complexes were transported by the flow caused by the Kiso River. Higher log values for the organic carbon-based partition c oefficient (log K-oc) were observed just outside this plume. A possibl e explanation for this phenomena is the combination of rapid decrease of the dissolved concentration due to convection and the slow desorpti on of adsorbed CBs from suspended particulates outside the plume. In s pite of the relatively large site-dependent variation of log K-oc in t he bay, the log K-oc values averaged over the bay for each CB isomer c orrelated with the octanol/water partition coefficient (log K-ow) repo rted for these compounds. This showed that the chemical properties of the compounds, as reflected in the log K-ow, was the major controlling factor for the log K-oc in the field, despite the observed site-depen dent variation in log K-oc.