Sorption of phenanthrene on to soil fractions in the presence of Triton X-100

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of soil fractions on surfactant-enhanced soil remediation. A soil sample was separated into humic acid (HA), humin (HM), base-extracted soil (BE) and mineral fraction through solution extraction. The sorption of phenanthrene (PHE) on to individual soil fractions in the presence of a nonionic surfactant, Triton X-100 (TX100) at two concentrations, was studied. The results showed that HA had the highest affinity for both PHE and TX100. The HM and BE presented a high sorption capacity for PHE but a low capacity for TX100, while mineral presented a low sorption capacity for PHE and a high sorption capacity for TX100. The sorption of PHE on different soil fractions was greatly influenced by the presence of TX100. With TX100 present in solution, the distribution parameters K _f and K _d of all the sorbents decreased, with the exception of the mineral fraction at the lower TX100 initial concentration. The sorption of PHE on to HA and the mineral fraction was particularly influenced by TX100, which is because of the corresponding high TX100 sorption capacity of HA and the mineral fraction.

Keywords:

• sorption
• soil fractions
• phenanthrene
• Triton X-100
• surfactant

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Basic Research Program (973) of China (No. 2007CB407202).