VOLATILIZATION OF SELECTED ORGANIC-COMPOUNDS FROM QUIESCENT WATER

Volatilization of selected organic compounds from water without agitat ion has been studied. Mathematical models, incorporating Fick's diffus ion law, are developed for volatilization under quicscent condition. A theoretical model is obtained by solving a partial differential equat ion and is further approximated to a simplified model for practical ap plications. The volatilization-rate constant from this model is found to be inversely proportional to the square of the water depth instead of the thickness of liquid film multiplied by water depth used for tur bulent condition. The experiments on volatilization of benzene, toluen e, trichloroethylene (TCE), and tetrachloroethylene (PCE) were conduct ed in the laboratory, Both the theoretical model and the simplified mo del were applied to the experimental data, and correlation coefficient s of better than 0.95 were obtained for all tested cases. However, for benzene, the dependency of volatilization-rate constant on water dept h was found to be inversely proportional to the 1.8 power.