Effects of temperature and surfactants on naphthalene and phenanthrene sorption by soil

Adsorption experiments were carried out to investigate the sorption behaviors of naphthalene and phenanthrene in six different soils and to determine the effects of temperature, linear alkylbenzene sulfonate (LAS) and cetylrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) on sorption. The results show that for a given sorbent phenanthrene exhibited greater nonlinear and stronger sorption than naphthalene. There was a strong negative correlation for the Koc values with organic carbon content (foc). The increase of temperature was not favorable to sorption. Sorption decreased along with the increasing aqueous LAS concentration from 0 to 1000 mg/L. At low CTAB concentration (＜ 100 mg/L), the adsorption increased as CTAB hemimicelles formed on the soil surface. At high concentration, CTAB decreased the adsorption by occupying active hydrophobic adsorption sites and solubilization of naphthalene and phenanthrene.