Adsorption of Nonionic Contaminants

The sorption of a nonpolar organic contaminant on a solid phase is derived by enthalpy and entropy related forces. Hasset and Banwart (1989) suggested that sorption occurs when the free energy of the reaction is negative due to enthalpy or entropy. The enthalpy is primarily a function of the changes in the bonding between the adsorbing surface and the sorbate (solute) and between the solvent (water) and the solute. The entropy is related to the increase or decrease in the order of the system on sorption. 

The forces that control adsorption of nonionic contaminants on the solid phase were summarized by Yaron et al. (1996) in terms of enthalpy and entropy adsorption 

The protonation mechanism includes Coulomb electrostatic forces resulting from charged surfaces. The development of surface acidity by the solid phase of the subsurface offers the possibility that solutes having proton-selective organic functional groups can be adsorbed through a protonation reaction. 

The n bonds occur as a result of the overlapping of n orbitals when they are perpendicular to aromatic rings. This mechanism can be used to explain the bonding of alkenes, aUcylenes, and aromatic compounds to subsurface organic matter. 

London-van der Waals forces generally are multipole (dipole-dipole or dipole-induced dipole) interactions produced by a correlation between fluctuating induced multipole (principal dipole) moments in two nearly uncharged polar molecules. Even though the time-averaged, induced multipole in each molecule is zero, the correlation between the two induced moments does not average to zero. As a result an attractive interaction between the two is produced at very small molecular distances. 

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