Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
4415895 | Chemosphere | 2007 | 9 Pages |
Although alkanes are relatively less reactive to chemical oxidation compared to alkenes, the chemical oxidation of alkanes has not been adequately explored in the context of environmental remediation efforts. Laboratory-scale column experiments were therefore conducted with soil artificially contaminated by diesel fuel as a surrogate for alkanes of environmental relevance. Particular attention was paid to saturated hydrocarbons refractory to volatilization. Reaction conditions involve 1485 mg kg−1 of the initial concentration of diesel range organics (DRO) and a constant ozone concentration of 119 ± 6 mg l−1 at the flow rate of 50 ml min−1. The observed removal of DRO reached 94% over 14 h of continuous ozone injection. Ozone oxidation demonstrated effective removal of non-volatile DRO in the range of C12–C24. Each alkane compound displayed comparable degradation kinetics, suggesting virtually no selectivity of ozone reactions with alkanes in soil. A pseudo-first order kinetic model closely simulated the removal kinetics, yielding a reaction rate constant of 0.213 (±0.021) h−1 and a half-life of 3.3 (±0.3) h under the experimental conditions used in this study. An estimate of ozone demand was 32 mg of O3 (mg DRO)−1.