Abstract
Surfactants in aqueous solution adsorb onto mineral surfaces and form micelles above the critical micelle concentration (CMC) due to their physico-chemical properties. Hydrophobic organic compounds such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) have a high affinity for the adsorbed surfactant layers (monomers, hemimicelles and admicelles) and to the micelles in the mobile aqueous phase. The transport of PAHs is controlled by the concentration of the surfactant and the partition coefficients, of the PAHs between water and admicelles (adsolubilization: K adm ) and water and micelles (solubilization: K mic ), respectively. These partition coefficients were measured in laboratory batch and column experiments using phenanthrene as a chemical probe for the PAHs, a non-ionic surfactant (Terrasurf G50), natural aquifer sand (River Neckar Alluvium: RNA) and its petrographic subcomponents. The sorption of the surfactant can be described by a linear isotherm for concentrations below the CMC and a sorption maximum above the CMC, which both depend on the grain size and the surfactant accessible internal surface area of the particles. K adm was found to be higher than K mic . Both depend on the surfactant's properties, such as alkyl chain length, polar headgroup or ethoxylation. In column experiments an increasing retardation of phenanthrene was observed up to the CMC followed by a facilitated transport at surfactant concentration several times the CMC.
Published Version
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