• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.47-57
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• 2022

A number of different methods have been used for modeling the sorption of volatile organic chlorinated compounds such as tetrachloroethylene/perchloroethylene (PCE). In this study, PCE was adsorbed in several natural sorbents, i.e., Pahokee peat, vermicompost, BionSoil^®, and natural soil, in the batch experiments. Several sorption models such as linear, Freundlich, solubility-normalized Freundlich model, and Polanyi-Manes model (PMM) were used to analyze sorption isotherms. The relationship between sorption model parameters, organic carbon content (f_oc), and elemental C/N ratio was studied. The organic carbon normalized partition coefficient values (log K_oc = 1.50-3.13) in four different sorbents were less than the logarithm of the octanol-water partition coefficient (log K_ow = 3.40) of PCE due to high organic carbon contents. The log K_oc decreased linearly with log f_oc and log C/N ratio, but increased linearly with log O/C, log H/C, and log (N+O)/C ratio. Both log K_F,oc or log K_F,oc decreased linearly with log f_oc (R² = 0.88-0.92) and log C/N ratio (R² = 0.57-0.76), but increased linearly with log (N+O)/C (R² = 0.93-0.95). The log q_max,oc decreased linearly as log f_oc and log C/N increased, whereas it increased with log O/C, log H/C and log (N+O)/C ratios. The log q_max,oc increased linearly with (N+O)/C indicating a strong dependence of q_max,oc on the polarity index. The results showed that PCE sorption behaviors were strongly correlated with the physicochemical properties of soil organic matter (SOM).

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.133-145
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• 2012

The quantitative composition of total suspended particulates (TSP) in the atmosphere is identified to consist mainly of ions, organic carbon (OC), element carbon (EC), and metals. In terms of environmental analysis, the rest of the TSP composition may be defined as unknown fraction (${\Sigma}X$) which is yet difficult to analyze both quantitatively and qualitatively. In this study, the major components of TSP were measured at an urban residential area (Gang Seo) in Seoul, Korea from February to December 2009. These TSP data were analyzed in various respects to explain the relationship between known and unknown constituents. During this study period, TSP was comprised mainly of unknown compounds (48.6%) followed by ions, OC, EC, and metals. The results of this study indicate that the distribution of ${\Sigma}X$ exhibits a strong similarity with ${\Sigma}Anions$, as they both increase with increasing TSP levels. However, if the concentrations of ${\Sigma}X$ and ${\Sigma}Anion$ are normalized against TSP, they exhibit a strong inverse correlation with each other due probably to larges differences in solubility. To establish a better strategy for air quality control in urban atmosphere, more efforts are needed to characterize unidentified proportion of particulate matters.