SREL Reprint #3489
Sorption of low molecular mass polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons to organic carbon deficient aquifer materials coated with residual diesel oil
Rondall J. Hudson1, Irena D. Atanassova2, Bruce E. Herbert3, and Gary L. Mills4
1Hebo Ranger District, Siuslaw National Forest, USA
2Poushkarov Institute for Soil Science, Agrotechnology and Plant Protection,
7 Shosse Bankya Str., Sofia 1080, Bulgaria
3Department of Geology and Geophysics, Texas A & M University,
College Station, Texas 77843, USA
4Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, University of Georgia, Aiken, South Carolina 29802, USA
Abstract: Sorption of low molecular mass (LMM) polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) acenapthene, fluorene, and dibenzothiophene, as tracers in columns containing aquifer materials with a mass fraction of natural organic carbon foc = 0.0002 and coated with 0 to 0.02% of mass of a moderately weathered diesel oil was studied. Weathered diesel oil effectively retarded the transport of PAHs through aquifer materials. Sorption coefficients (K) for PAHs increased from 2 to 10 times linearly with diesel oil content. By comparing sorption coefficients (Koil) to carbon-normalized sorption coefficients (Koc), we established that weathered diesel oil was more effective as a sorptive phase than natural organic matter per unit mass. The octanol-water coefficients (Kow) were found to be reasonable estimates of Koil values. Contaminants removal remediation strategies for diesel oil contaminated aquifer systems may require larger volumes of water and longer pumping times if sorptive effects of diesel oil are not considered.
Keywords: polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH), sorption, diesel oil, aquifer, material, remediation
SREL Reprint #3489
Hudson, R. J., I. D. Atanassova, B. E. Herbert, and G. L. Mills. 2016. Sorption of low molecular mass polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons to organic carbon deficient aquifer materials coated with residual diesel oil. Journal of Balkan Ecology 19(1): 67-80.
This information was provided by the University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (srel.uga.edu).