Author(s)

J.-H. Chang, Z. Qiang & C.-P. Huang

Abstract

Contaminants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are of special concern due to their high toxicities and hydrophobicities. The high hydrophobic natures of PAHs enable their strong sorption onto soil or sediments, which makes it difficult for their removal from the environment. This study was to explore the sorption characteristics of PAHs with synthetic nonionic surfactant and biosurfactant in the soil. Two surfactants (one synthetic and one naturally occurring) Triton X-100 and rhamnolipid were used. Results show that the partition coefficient of PAHs in the Triton X-100 system decreases with increasing surfactant concentrations. Throughout the whole concentration range of studied biosurfactant (0 ~ 30 CMC), the partition coefficient of PAHs in rhamnolipid system is roughly constant, around 400.0 L/Kg. Keywords: sorption, soils, PAHs, surfactant, biosurfactant. 1 Introduction The polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are of special concern for the natural environment due to their high toxicities and hydrophobicities. On the basis of the characteristic of high hydrophobicity, PAHs are strongly sorbed onto soil or sediments [1]. As such, it is difficult to remove PAHs from the soils. Among many remediation techniques, surfactants have been induced in soil-

Keywords

sorption, soils, PAHs, surfactant, biosurfactant.