Partition behavior of surfactants, butanol, and salt during application of density-modified displacement of dense non-aqueous phase liquids.

Density-modified displacement (DMD) is a recent approach for removal of trapped dense NAPL (DNAPL). In this study, butanol and surfactant are contacted with the DNAPL to both reduce the density as well as release the trapped DNAPL (perchloroethylene: PCE). The objective of the study was to determine the distribution of each component (e.g., butanol, surfactant, water, PCE) between the original aqueous and PCE phases during the application of DMD. The results indicated that the presence of the surfactant increased the amount of n-butanol required to make the NAPL phase reach its desired density. In addition, water and anionic surfactant were found to partition along with the BuOH into the PCE phase. The water also found partitioned to reverse micelles in the modified phase. Addition of salt was seen to increase partitioning of surfactant to BuOH containing PCE phase. Subsequently, a large amount of water was solubilized into reverse micelles which lead to significantly increase in volume of the PCE phase. This work thus demonstrates the role of each component and the implications for the operation design of an aquifer treatment using the DMD technique.

Solubilization of dibutyltin dichloride with surfactant solutions in single and mixed oil systems.

The harmful effects of organometallic compounds and their metabolites on the environment and human health require the development of more effective remediation methods. Surfactant enhanced remediation has been considered as a potential method for the removal of organometallic compounds; however, additional understanding is needed about the solubilization processes of these compounds. The surfactant enhanced solubilization of dibutyltin dichloride (DBT), an organometallic compound, was the focus of this research. In addition, the synergistic effects of DBT solubilization in perchloroethylene (PCE) and decane mixtures were evaluated. The results indicate that PCE and decane were solubilized into the core of these surfactant micelles in both single and mixed oil systems. DBT solubilization was limited when DBT alone was present (single oil system), and the nature of the solubilization isotherm suggests that DBT solubilization tended to occur near the micelle surface in a single oil system. DBT solubilization was found to increase when present in the PCE and decane oil mixture. PCE and decane may have facilitated the solubilization of DBT because they were solubilized in the micelle core. From this study, it may be concluded that the DBT behaves like polar oil such as dodecanol, having properties of a polar organic compound.

Effect of admicellar properties on adsolubilization: column studies and solute transport.

Mixtures of anionic and cationic surfactants exhibit synergistic behavior as evidenced by low critical micelle concentrations (CMC) of the mixed system, increased surface activity, and improved detergency performance. The adsorption of a single-head anionic surfactant, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), in mixture with a twin-head cationic surfactant, pentamethyl-octadecyl-1,3-propane diammonium dichloride (PODD), showed synergism of adsorption onto silica when present at a mixing ratio of 1:3 (cationic-rich), and also demonstrated lower surfactant desorption with water flushing of columns packed with the surfactant-modified media. In addition, the proportion of the mixed surfactants in the admicelles moved from the initial ratio of 1:3 towards equimolar after rinsing the surfactant-modified silica absorbent. The retardation of organic solutes passing through columns packed with modified-silica adsorbent increased nominally three fold for silica modified with mixed surfactants versus single surfactants (retardation factors increase from 4.0 to 12.8 for styrene and from 32.1 to 90.2 for ethylcyclohexane for single and mixed surfactants, respectively). Thus, this study demonstrates that mixed surfactant systems more effectively modified the silica surface than single surfactant systems both in terms of enhanced retardation of organic solutes and in terms of reduced surfactant desorption.