Ct. Jafvert et al., THE PHASE DISTRIBUTION OF POLYCHLOROBIPHENYL CONGENERS IN SURFACTANT-AMENDED SEDIMENT SLURRIES, Water research, 29(10), 1995, pp. 2387-2397
The surfactant-aided recoveries of polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs) from a s
ample of Ashtabula River (Ohio) sediment were compared to calculated r
ecoveries based on an equilibrium phase distribution model. The equili
brium model contains as parameters: (i) the surfactant concentration i
n the micelles, [S](mic), (ii) the mass of organic carbon in the sedim
ent (or soil) per aqueous volume, oc, (iii) a constant characterizing
solute affinity for the micelle (beta = and K-m/K-ow), and (iv) a cons
tant characterizing solute affinity for the sediment carbon (alpha = K
-oc/K-ow). The recovery of specific PCB congeners from the sediment by
surfactant micelles at equilibrium were invariant with congener numbe
r as predicted by the model. This invariant behavior results from the
fact that the PCBs are partitioned between two lipophilic phases (soil
organic carbon and micelles) through hydrophobic interactions. Surfac
tants chosen as solubilizing agent were Brij 30, polyoxyethylene-10-la
uryl ether, Brij 35, Triton X-705, Tween 20, Tween 80, Tween 85, Exxal
F5715, Pluronic P-65, and sodium dodecylsulfate.