ABSTRACT
Surfactants are amphiphilic molecules that partition preferentially at interfaces between fluid phases with different degrees of polarity and hydrogen bonding, such as oil/water and air/water interfaces. This property allows surfactants to reduce surface and interfacial tension and, when present at concentrations greater than the critical micelle concentration (CMC), to produce mieroemulsions of hydrophobic organic compounds (HOCs) in water. Such mieroemulsions increase the concentration of HOCs in the aqueous phase. Because low solubility is the main obstacle to the removal of HOCs from the subsurface, the application of surfactants to environmental cleanup received much attention during the recent past [1,21. Surfaetants are used to improve hydraulic recovery of HOCs from the subsurface using surfactant-enhanced aquifer remediation (SEAR) and to enhance biodegradation of HOCs by increasing their availability to microorganisms.
