Influence upon Effusion of Hydrophobic Organic Compounds (HOCs) from Fog Droplets: Surfactant, pH, and Salt Effects

• Published in: Aerosol science and technology 1997-01, Vol.26 (4), p.301-312
• Main Authors: Lo, Jin-Hsiang Andy, Lee, Whei-May Grace
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aerosols; Chemistry; Colloidal state and disperse state; Exact sciences and technology; Fog; General and physical chemistry; Q1; Salts
• ISSN: 0278-6826; 1521-7388
• DOI: 10.1080/02786829708965432

In this study, a HOCs-effusion reactor was constructed to investigate the effects of surfactant, pH, and salt concentration on the effusion of n-octane that we chose as a surrogate for hydrophobic organic compounds (HOCs) in fog droplets. Sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) was selected as the surfactant for our experiments. In addition, a correction factor α for the exchange constant of mass transfer of n-octane was defined and used to illustrate the effects mentioned above. The experimental results show that the values of α are in the range of 0.421-0.798 for the effect of SDS. Thus, SDS can decrease the mass transfer of n-octane effused from the fog droplet by about 20-60%. However, the values of α vary from 1.17 to 1.57 and 1.42 to 4.23 for the effects of the H 2 SO 4 and NaCl. Therefore, ionic strength contributed by H 2 SO 4 and NaCl can increase the effusion rate of n-octane by about 17 to 57% for the effect of H 2 SO 4 and 42 to 323% for the effect of NaCl.