(733c) Use of Cosolvents for Remediation of Hazardous Waste Sites and Their Effect on the Relative Mass Transfer and Reaction Kinetic Rates

Physical/chemical or biological remediation of sites contaminated with hazardous wastes with low aqueous solubility, is often limited by mass transfer of contaminants from the soil surface to bulk phase, consisting of reactive aqueous medium. To reduce the surface tension between soil and organic contaminants, alcohols, surfactants and household detergents were used as cosolvents to increase the aqueous solubility of hydrophobic chlorinated contaminants. Criteria for cosolvent selection were developed, which would lead to an inexpensive and nontoxic addition of the most efficient additive for subsurface remediation.

Relative efficiency of various cosolvents was determined under various pH and temperature conditions for spiked soil samples of a clean soil section from a trichloroethylene (TCE) contaminated site. TCE desorbed from the soil was reacted with potassium permanganate (KMnO₄) to determine the relative reaction and mass transfer resistances. Results of these studies will be presented and their significance to hazardous waste site remediation will be discussed.