The economics of surfactant-enhanced subsurface remediation are affect
ed by losses of surfactants due to such phenomena as precipitation, so
rption, etc. It is hypothesized that surfactants with twin head groups
will exhibit lower losses in the subsurface as compared to single hea
d group surfactants while maintaining high solubilization. The contami
nant addressed in this research was naphthalene, and the surfactants e
valuated were mono- and disulfonated anionics (sodium dodecylbenzenesu
lfonate and alkyl diphenyl oxide disulfonates). The results of this re
search demonstrated that disulfonates were significantly less suscepti
ble to precipitation than monosulfonates and that disulfonates were le
ss susceptible to sorption than monosulfonates and also less prone to
sorption than nonionic surfactants evaluated in other research. Disulf
onates also exhibited greater solubilization of naphthalene than monos
ulfonates and slightly lower solubilization than nonionics. Solubility
ratios were evaluated on both a molar (MSR) and weight (WSR) basis, a
nd corresponding micelle-phase/aqueous-phase partition coefficients (K
(m) and K(w)) were reported. This research demonstrated that disulfona
te surfactants are less susceptible to losses than other surfactants e
valuated and thus are strong candidates for use in surfactant-enhanced
subsurface remediation.