title: The effect of surfactants on oxygen mass-transfer through the air-water interface.
abstract: The aim of the current study was to investigate the oxygen transfer rate through the water-air interface in the presence of different concentrations of various surfactants. The surfactants used in the current study were methanol, ethanol, 1-propanol and 1-butanol. The measurements were performed with an apparatus based on the electrochemical oxygen sensor. Theresults obtained showed that the impediment to oxygen mass-transfer through the water-air interface depends on the molecular structure and concentration of the surfactant used. A simple mathematical model was proposed, which allowed us to calculate the characteristic constants of surfactants--K' and deltak starting from the experimental results. K' is the reciprocal of the equilibrium constant of adsorption process and deltak characterizes the influence of the surfactant to oxygen mass-transfer through the air-water interface.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Physical Chemistry, University of Tartu, Jakobi 2, EE-51014 Tartu, Estonia.
authors.forename: Erik
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mölder
authors.forename: Toomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tenno
authors.forename: Aleksei
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mashirin
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D000388:Air; D007700:Kinetics; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D010100:Oxygen / Q000737:chemistry*; D013501:Surface-Active Agents / Q000737:chemistry*; D014867:Water
chemical_list: D013501:Surface-Active Agents; D014867:Water; D010100:Oxygen