The objective of the thesis was to investigate the effects of nonionic surfactants on the dissolution and biodegradation of polycyclic aromatics hydrocarbons (PAHs) from a multicomponent non-aqueous phase liquids (NAPLs). / The extent of solubilization of the PAHs in the surfactant micelles increased linearly with the PAH mole fraction in the NAPL. The micelle-water equilibrium partition coefficient of both PAHs was found to increase with the size of the polar shell region of the micelle rather than the hydrophobic core of the micelle and the presence of PAHs in the shell region of the micelles was confirmed by 1H-NMR analysis. Competitive solubilization effects were also observed. / The process of dissolution of the PAHs in surfactant aqueous solutions was investigated with particular emphasis on the influence of the surfactant molecular structure and dose on the kinetics of the solubilization process. The solubilization of both PAHs was limited by the rates of desorption of mixed micelles from NAPL and their rates of diffusion at high concentrations of surfactant. It was found that the dissolution rates were directly related to the length of the alkyl portion of the surfactant. The micellar volume also seemed to affect the rates. The addition of surfactants resulted in an enhancement of biodegradation rates at the initial stages because of the rapid partitioning of PAHs from micelles into the aqueous phase where uptake occurs. But at latter period, biodegradation was severely limited by the dissolution of PAHs into the true aqueous phase.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.85885 |
| Date | January 2005 |
| Creators | Bernardez, Leticia Alonso |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Civil Engineering and Applied Mechanics.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 002268551, proquestno: AAINR21622, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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