Abstract
Phenanthrene is used as a model hydrophobic organic compound to study the sorption properties of the Gulf of Aliveri (Greece) marine sediments. Sorption of hydrophobic organic compounds is mainly related to the organic matter present in the sediments. The presence of particles due to anthropogenic activity in the sediments can highly influence their sorption behavior. Sediments from the Gulf of Aliveri contain different proportions of such particles i.e., lignite, coal, and char. The hypothesis of the present study is that salinity can affect the fate of this pollutant by affecting the degree of sorption nonlinearity and sorption capacity. Since the sorption nonlinearity is a function of heterogeneity, different materials are used to compare their sorption behavior in solutions with and without salinity. Results expected from this study include a) the surface properties of the different sediments and the materials tested and b) sorption capacities in i) fresh and ii) salt water for phenanthrene. In general, it is observed that for carbonaceous particles and sediments containing such particles at lower phenanthrene concentrations, sorption in saltwater solutions is lower than in fresh water solutions.
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