SOLUBILIZATION OF PAH MIXTURES BY A NONIONIC SURFACTANT

Enhanced solubilization of naphthalene, phenanthrene, and pyrene in mi cellar solutions of Triton X-100 was studied for single compounds and their binary and ternary mixtures. Experimental results were obtained for the following conditions: (i) naphthalene, phenanthrene, and pyren e as single compounds at saturation; (ii) naphthalene, phenanthrene, a nd pyrene as binary and ternary mixtures at saturation; (iii) phenanth rene at saturation in a range of naphthalene concentrations; (iv) pyre ne at saturation in a range of naphthalene concentrations. The solubil ity enhancement of naphthalene was slightly reduced in the presence of phenanthrene and/or pyrene. A synergistic effect on the solubilizatio n of phenanthrene was observed in the presence of different amounts of naphthalene. The solubility of phenanthrene was greatly enhanced in b oth binary mixtures and in the ternary mixture. The solubility of pyre ne was slightly reduced in the presence of naphthalene, remained unaff ected in the presence of phenanthrene, and increased significantly in the ternary mixture. The increase in the partition coefficient values is explained by the partitioning of the solubilzate at the micellar co re-water interface, which changes the interfacial free energy and effe ctively increases the volume of the core leading to a higher solubiliz ation potential.