SORPTION OF LINEAR ALKYLBENZENE SULFONATES AND SULFOPHENYLCARBOXYLIC ACIDS ON MARINE SEDIMENTS

The sorption of linear alkylbenzene sulfonates (LAS) and of their main biodegradation intermediates, sulfophenylcarboxylic acids (SPC) has been characterized in marine sediments. The required equilibrium time for undecylbenzene sulfonate (C11LAS) sorption is 12 h, and 24 h for sulfophenyl undecanoic acid (C11SPC). C11LAS sorption decreases with temperature due to the exothermic character of this process. C11SPC sorption is less complete and less homogeneous than for C11LAS. The alkylic or carboxylic chain length (C10-C13) is correlated positively with the partition coefficient, and the effect of the carboxylic group is more significant than that of the additional methylene group. Sorption of LAS and SPC homologues (C10-C13) are reversible processes. Desorption of SPC homologues is almost complete, but the desorption percentage of LAS homologue decreases with alkylic chain length. Small fractions of sorbed LAS homologues could take longer to be desorbed than the times covered by this study.This research has been supported by the Environmental and Climate Program of the European Commission PRISTINE (Contract ENV4-CT97-494) from Waste Water Cluster and by the Spanish Inter-Ministerial Science and Technology Commission “BALAS” project (CICYT, REN2001-2980-C02-01/HID)