Transport potential of super-hydrophobic organic contaminants in anionic-nonionic surfactant mixture micelles

Abstract

Surfactant mixtures are commonly used in agricultural and soil remediation applications, necessitating an understanding of their micellization behavior and associated impact on the fate of co-existing chemicals in the subsurface. A polymer-water sorption isotherm approach was shown to present an alternative to traditional methods for quantifying, understanding and predicting surfactant mixture properties. Micelle compositions were measured for anionic-nonionic surfactant mixtures. This is important since micelle composition can alter the apparent aqueous solubility of super-hydrophobic organic contaminants (SHOCs) resulting in surfactant facilitated transport (SFT). A key parameter in predicting SFT for SHOCs is their micelle-water partition constant (KMI). These were determined for polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) with representative anionic-nonionic surfactant mixtures using a polymer depletion method. These previously unreported constants were intermediate between those for pure anionic and nonionic surfactant solutions, with magnitude depending on micelle composition. Separate linear relationships were found between log KMI and log KOW for PCDDs and PCBs. This work provides new methods and preliminary results relating to binary surfactant mixtures (e.g. critical micelle concentration and micelle composition) and SHOCs (KMI) that are important in the evaluation of the fate and transport of SHOCs in the subsurface environment and provide insight into the environmental mobility of these important contaminants.