Partitioning of mono- and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in a river sediment adjacent to a former manufactured gas plant site.
The equilibrium distributions, between water and coal-tar contaminated sediment, of 16 monocyclic and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were measured and evaluated for consistency with a Raoult's Law-based quantitative relationship. The quantitative relationship calculates the pore water concentration as the product of the aqueous solubility (or for compounds that are solid at room temperature, the aqueous super-cooled liquid solubility) and the mole fraction concentration of the compound within the liquid coal tar. Sediment was collected at five locations at two depths within a 120 m stretch of a river adjacent to a former manufactured gas plant, and all samples contained non-aqueous phase liquid (NAPL) coal tar. Although the amount of coal tar varied between samples by over an order of magnitude, the Raoult's Law-based NAPL-water partition coefficients for each monocyclic or 2- or 3-ring polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon measured in this study generally varied within a factor of 2 over all sediments.
School of Civil Engineering, Purdue University, 550 Stadium Mall Drive, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA. jafvert@ecn.purdue.edu
Chad T
CT
Jafvert
Douglas
D
Lane
Linda S
LS
Lee
P Suresh C
PS
Rao
D003033:Coal Tar / Q000032:analysis; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D019652:Extraction and Processing Industry; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000737:chemistry*; D006841:Hydrocarbons, Aromatic / Q000032:analysis*; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons / Q000032:analysis*; D045483:Rivers / Q000737:chemistry*; D014481:United States; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*
D006841:Hydrocarbons, Aromatic; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D003033:Coal Tar