Sorption of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons onto Natural Solids: Determination by Fluorescence Quenching Method

A fluorescence quenching method was used to determine the sorption of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) onto natural solids in batch experiments. This method is based upon the observation that PAHs fluoresce in aqueous solution but not when associated with natural solids. It avoids problems of incomplete solid-liquid separation. As natural solids, eleven different USEPA soils and sediments were used. Anthracene and 2-aminoanthracene, which are respectively non-ionic and ionic PAHs, were chosen as sorbates. The fractional decrease in fluorescence intensity as a function of added natural solid concentration is referred to as Stem-Volmer plots. The plots were linear for all natural solids investigated. The conditional sorption coefficients (K_s^c) at pH 6 through 8 and I=0.1 M were obtained as the slopes of the plots. While the K_s^c values of anthracene were independent of pH, the values of 2-aminoanthracene decreased with increasing pH. The K_s^c values of anthracene correlated well with the organic carbon content of natural solids. However, the values of 2-aminoanthracene did not depend on the content of organic carbon in natural solids. For 2-aminoanthracene, inorganic matrices of the natural solids may contribute to the sorption.