Organic Pollutant Transport in Unsaturated Porous Media by Atmospheric Breathing Processes( I ) - Partition Coefficient -

This paper reports the experimental results for the determination of the overall partition coefficient of VOCs in unsaturated soil, A chromatographic method was used for the determination of gaseous partition coefficients to natural soil under various water content conditions. The equilibrium vapor pressure of water over saturated salt solution was used to fix the relative humidity of the air and control the water content of the soil systems. The transport behavior was studied for dichloromethane, trichloroethane and dichlorobenzene pollutants, with log octanol-water partition coefficients(log $K_{ow}$ ) which range from 1.25 to 3.39, or water to soil partitioning which varies by 135 times; water solubility constants which vary by 3 times; and vapor pressures which range from 1 to 362 torr. Water content of the soil had a pronounced effect on the effective partition coefficient(between gas and soil + water stationary phase) as well as on the effective dispersion coefficient.