Organic substances adsorption onto sediments

Adsorption — An important physico-chemical phenomenon used in treatment of hazardous wastes or in predicting the behavior of hazardous materials in natural systems is adsorption. Adsorption is the concentration or accumulation of substances at a surface or interface between media. Hazardous materials are often removed from water or air by adsorption onto activated carbon. Adsorption of organic hazardous materials onto soils or sediments is an important factor affecting their mobility in the environment. Adsorption may be predicted by use of a number of equations most commonly relating the concentration of a chemical at the surface or interface to the concentration in air or in solution, at equilibrium. These equations may be solved graphically using laboratory data to plot "isotherms." The most common application of adsorption is for the removal of organic compounds from water by activated carbon. 

Adsorption of dissolved substances onto suspended matter is a primary process in the removal of dissolved substance from the water column and subsequent concentration in sediments. The major role played by adsorbed organic coatings on particulate matter is well known (60, ). The processes of complexatlon and adsorption in marine systems and their effects on the speciation of various ions and compounds are discussed in the closing chapters. 

PROBABLE FATE photolysis no direct photolysis, half-life from surface waters 3500 hr, indirect photolysis is too slow to be important, photodegradation by hydroxyl radicals will occur with a half-life of 23.8 hrs oxidation not an important process, photooxidation half-life in air 4.7 days-46.6 days hydrolysis too slow to be important under natural conditions, first-order hydrolytic half-life 1163 days volatilization possible, but not important sorption sorption onto particles and biota and complexation with humic substances principal transport mechanism, little adsorption to soil or sediment is expected to occur biological processes bioaccumulation, biodegradation, and biotransformation by many organisms (including humans) are very significant fates... 

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