Equilibrium sorption isotherms were measured for five different low-polarity organic compounds (benzene, trichloroethene, 1,2- and 1,4-dichlorobenzene, and phenanthrene) over a wide concentration range. The investigated sorbents can be grouped into the following three classes: (1) humic soil organic matter, which shows linear sorption isotherms (solely partitioning, as observed in the peat sample); (2) carbon materials, which were thermally altered (due to their natural history or industrial production) and thus contain a high specific surface area and exhibit nonlinear isotherms, and (3) pure engineered microporous materials (e.g., zeolites and activated carbon), where adsorption is solely due to a pore-filling process. Sorption of all compounds was fitted very well by the Polanyi-Dubinin-Manes (PDM) model, which for sorbents containing humic organic matter (e.g., peat) was combined with linear partitioning. Both the partitioning and the Polanyi-Dubinin-Manes model predict unique sorption isotherms of similar compounds if the solubility-normalized aqueous concentration is used. In addition, an inverse linear relationship between the distribution coefficient (Kd) and water solubility, which was very well confirmed by the data, is obtained. This also leads to unit-equivalent Freundlich sorption isotherms and explains the often observed apparent correlation between sorption capacity at a given concentration (e.g., Freundlich coefficient) and sorption nonlinearity (Freundlich exponent).

Remediation of groundwater contamination in unconsolidated aquifers by dissolved hydrophobic compounds (HOC) requires detailed information on the sorption parameters present in the sediments. Equilibrium sorption isotherms were measured for phenanthrene for a wide variety of lithocomponents (constituents of sand and gravel sediments) and unweathered rock fragments (limestones and sandstones). The lithocomponents were separated based on macroscopic appearance of different lithologies (e.g. limestones, sandstones, shales, mudstones, and igneous rocks) and characterized in terms of organic carbon content and specific surface area. In addition the organic matter (OM) was characterized using coal petrography methods (white and UV light microscopy). As confirmed by heat-treated samples sorption was solely due to OM. Organic carbon normalized sorption coefficients (K OC) varied by almost 3 orders of magnitude among the samples investigated. The different origin and maturity of isolated organic matter (organic facies) is believed to be responsible. For example, extremely high K OC values were found for particulate organic matter such as charcoal and coal particles which were preserved within the sandstone and limestone grains. In a second paper we report data on sorption kinetics of the samples used in this study ().

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Sediment organic matter heterogeneity in sediments is shown to impact the sorption behavior of contaminants. We investigated the sorptive properties as well as the composition of organic matter in different subsamples (mainly grain size fractions) of the Canadian River Alluvium (CRA). Organic petrography was used as a new tool to describe and characterize the organic matter in the subsamples. The samples studied contained many different types of organic matter including bituminous coal particles. Differences in sorption behavior were explained based on these various types of organic matter. Subsamples containing predominately coaly, particulate organic matter showed the highest K oc , the highest nonlinearity of sorption isotherms and the slowest sorption kinetics. Soil subsamples with organic matter present as organic coatings around the quartz grains evidenced the lowest K oc , the most linear sorption isotherms and the fastest sorption kinetics, which was not limited by slow intraparticle diffusion. Due to the high sorption capacity of the coaly particles even when it is present as only a small fraction of the composite organic content (<3%) causes K oc values which are much higher than expected for soil organic matter (e.g. K oc -K ow relationships). The results show that the identification and quantification of the coaly particles within a sediment or soil sample is a prerequisite in order to understand or predict sorption behavior of organic pollutants.