A simple method to estimate the surfactant micelle-water distribution coefficients of aromatic hydrocarbons

To predict surfactant micellar solubilization of aromatic hydrocarbons (arenes), a simple model is tried with the geometric mean, (pi(20)pi(cmc))(1/2), Of the surface tension reductions, and the total molecular surface area of the arene, TSA, to estimate micelle-water distribution coefficients, K-XM, in the dilute solution range. The solubilization experiment was conducted by the generator-column method. The structures of the arenes used vary from one ring to five rings and include both homopolycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and some hetero-PAM. The surfactant solutions are five typical surfactants. An acceptable congruence between the predicted log K-XM vs log K-OW correlation and the experimental log K-XM vs log K-OW correlation, previously published, is found. Therefore, this model may be used as an alternative tool to estimate K-XM for the soil flushing/washing process.