Water solubility, surfactant-enhanced remediation

Surfactant enhancement is a technology used to remove contaminants from soils and water at hazardous waste sites. The application of surfactants enhances remediation by (a) increasing contaminant mobility and solubility, (b) decreasing the mobility of contaminants, and (c) increasing the rate of biodegradion of contaminants in soil. 

Enhanced HOC solubility in surfactant systems generally has been quantified by a distribution coefficient that only considers HOC partitioning to surfactant micelles that exist above the critical micelle concentration (CMC). Although surfactants can form a mobile micellar pseudophase that leads to the facilitated transport of solubilized HOCs, they also can be adsorbed by the solid matrix and thereby lead to HOC partitioning to immobile sorbed surfactants and, thus, enhanced HOC retardation. Therefore, the effectiveness of a remediation scheme utilizing surfactants depends on the distribution of an HOC between immobile compartments (e.g., subsurface solids, sorbed surfactants) and mobile compartments (e.g., water, micelles). 

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