Adsorptive partitioning of an organic compound onto polyelectrolyte-immobilized micelles on porous glass and sand

Halting the spread of organic contaminants in subsurface aquifers is a crit ical environmental problem. We describe a novel "permeable reactive barrier " that results when organophile-solubilizing properties are conferred on si liceous materials by treating them with a cationic polymer and oppositely c harged mixed surfactant micelles. Controlled pore glass, quartz sand, and s ea sand were treated with poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) and with m ixed micelles of Triton X-100 and sodium dodecyl sulfate, either sequential ly or simultaneously, following different treatment procedures. A model org anophilic compound, Orange OT, was adsorbed and retained under aqueous agit ation on the siliceous treated surfaces but not on untreated surfaces or th ose treated with micelle only. The aspect of the treatment procedure produc ing the most significant effect on Orange OT solubilization was the ionic s trength. The retention of Orange OT in a layer of polyelectrolyte-micelle-t reated sand under flow, within a column of untreated sand, demonstrates the possibility of using similar processes as a permeable reactive barrier to trap organic pollutants.