Efficiency of surfactant-enhanced desorption for contaminated soils depending on the component characteristics of soil-surfactant–PAHs system

The sorption of surfactants onto soils has a significant effect on the performance of surfactant enhanced desorption. In this study, the efficiency of surfactants in enhancing desorption for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) contaminated soils relative to water was evaluated with a term of relative efficiency coefficient (REC). Since the sorption of surfactants onto soils, surfactants only enhanced PAH desorption when REC values were larger than 1 and the added surfactant concentration was greater than the corresponding critical enhance desorption concentration (CEDC), which was defined as the corresponding surfactant concentration with REC = 1. A model was utilized to describe and predict the REC and CEDC values for PAH desorption. The model and experimental results indicated that the efficiency of surfactants in enhancing PAH desorption showed strong dependence on the soil composition, surfactant structure and PAH properties. These results are of practical interest for the selection of surfactant to optimize soil remediation technologies.