ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the rate and extent of adsorption of some chloroorganic solvents on selected soils. It includes additional investigations of experimental techniques that are especially pertinent to the rate and equilibrium studies. Most of the contaminations have originated from the previous dump of the chemicals into unsealed ponds or landfill sites. Since the organic solvents are highly volatile, a good portion of the chemicals has escaped into the air upon their disposal. The adsorption process tends to increase the retention time of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the soil. One of the reference soils contains 5.1% organic material and the other contains 1.9% organic material. In general, accurate and precise mass balances were obtained for the extraction of VOCs from water or from solids after two days of equilibration. Several investigators have reported the so-called "solids effect", decreasing apparent K values with increasing concentration of solids that are used for the adsorption experiments.
