Sorption of phenanthrene by kaolin and efficacy of hydraulic versus electroosmotic flow to stimulate desorption

Petroleum hydrocarbons are hydrophobic and tend to adhere to soil when released into the environment. Desorption of the contaminant from soil is necessary for most remediation technologies. In subsurface and for in-situ remediation, the dominant desorption mechanism is back diffusion.In this study, three tests were conducted to establish sorption and desorption kinetics for phenanthrene as a contaminant and kaolinite as a soil matrix. Sorption …