The Fate of Organic Contaminants

Klausen, J., M. A. Meier, and R. P. Schwarzenbach, Assessing the fate of organic contaminants in aquatic environments Mechanism and kinetics of hydrolysis of a carboxylic ester , J. Chem. Educ., 74, 1440-1444 (1997). 

For the purposes of this review, we have chosen the term sequestration to represent contaminant removal by processes that do not involve contaminant degradation. Although the term is most commonly applied to the fate of organic contaminants [54], it can also be applied to metals and other inorganic contaminants. In older literature on removal of contaminant metals, the term cementation was commonly used (e.g., Ref. 55), but this term is not used here. 

Klausen, J. Meier, M. A. Schwarzenbach, R. P. Assessing the Fate of Organic Contaminants in Aquatic Environments Mechanism and Kinetics of Hydrolysis of a Carboxylic Ester, J. Chem. Educ. 1997, 74 1440-1444. 

Box 4.14 Physical and chemical properties that dictate the fate of organic contaminants... 

N.S. (2005) Synchrotron Fourier transform infrared microspectroscopy a new tool to monitor the fate of organic contaminants in plants. Microchem. J.,... 

Examples of Abiotic and Biotic Processes Regulating the Fate of Organic Contaminants in Wetlands and Aquatic Ecosystems... 

What is the difference between biotic and abiotic transformations. List an example of each process that regulates the fate of organic contaminants in wetlands. 

The fate of organic contaminants in soils and sediments is of primary concern in environmental science. The capacity to which soil constituents can potentially react with organic contaminants may profoundly impact assessments of risks associated with specific contaminants and their degradation products. In particular, clay mineral surfaces are known to facilitate oxidation/reduction, acid/base, polymerization, and hydrolysis reactions at the mineral-aqueous interface (1, 2). Since these reactions are occurring on or at a hydrated mineral surface, non-invasive spectroscopic analytical methods are the preferred choice to accurately ascertain the reactant products and to monitor reactions in real time, in order to determine the role of the mineral surface in the reaction. Additionally, the in situ methods employed allow us to monitor the ultimate changes in the physico-chemical properties of the minerals. 

Brusseau, M.L. and Koakana, R.S. (1996) Transport and Fate of Organic Contaminants in the Subsurface, in Contaminants and the Soil Environment in the Australasia-Pacific Region, (eds. R.Naidu, R.S.Kookana, D.P.Oliver, S.Rogers and M.J.McLaughlin) Kluwer, Dordrecht, pp. 95-125. 

Klupinski et al. (2004) report a laboratory experiment on the degradation of a fungicide, pentachloronitrobenzene (C Cl NO ), in the presence of goethite and iron oxide nanoparticles this study was intended to illustrate the fate of organic agrochemical contaminants in an iron-rich subsurface. To compare the effects of iron with and without a mineral presence, experiments were performed using... 

In certain cases, these rules, and most other definitions of oxidation and reduction, give counter-intuitive or contradictory results (12). For this reason, in part, few general works on organic reactivity place significant emphasis on reactions classified as oxidations or reductions (major exceptions are 13-17). Environmental chemists, on the other hand, still find it useful to classify organic transformations as oxidations or reductions (e.g., 2, 9,11, 18,19) because the environments in which they occur are often distinctive in this regard. The major (abiotic, non-photochemical) oxidation and reduction reactions that influence the environmental fate of organic contaminants are summarized in the two sections that follow. 

The conceptual model of biogeochemical zones developed for the Norman Landhll study (Figure 7) provides a framework for understanding the transport of organic contaminants and provides insight into the natural attenuation of the concentration of leachate compounds in the aquifer. This type of approach to assessing the active microbial processes and the availability of electron acceptors can be applied at other sites contaminated with leachate. Once the biogeochemical framework of a system is established, detailed experiments on the rates of processes and the fate and transport of the compounds of concern can be undertaken. 

Lyngkilde J. and Christensen T. H. (1992a) Fate of organic contaminants in the redox zones of a landhll leachate pollution plume (Vejen, Denmark). J. Contamin. Hydrol. 10, 291-307. 

Compound specific stable carbon isotope analyses -a new tool for tracing the fate of organic riverine contaminants... 

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