The behaviour of Linear Alkylbenzene Sulfonate (LAS) in agricultural soil is investigated in the laboratory using continuous-flow soil column studies in order to simultaneously analyze the three main underlying phenomena (adsorption/desorption, degradation and transport). The continuous-flow soil column experiments generated the breakthrough curves for each LAS homologue, C10, C11, C12 and C13, and by adding them up, for total LAS, from which the relevant retention, degradation and transport parameters could be estimated, after proposing adequate models. Several transport equations were considered, including the degradation of the sorbate in solution and its retention by soil, under equilibrium and non-equilibrium conditions between the sorbent and the sorbate. In general, the results obtained for the estimates of those parameters that were common to the various models studied (such as the isotherm slope, first order degradation rate coefficient and the hydrodynamic dispersion coefficient) were rather consistent, meaning that mass transfer limitations are not playing a major role in the experiments. These three parameters increase with the length of the LAS homologue chain. The study will provide the underlying conceptual framework and fundamental parameters to understand, simulate and predict the environmental behaviour of LAS compounds in agricultural soils.
Keywords: Agricultural soil; Column experiments; Environmental behaviour modeling; Linear alkylbenzene sulfonate; Transport equations.
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