Production and application of large quantities of synthetic organic compounds have resulted in a widespread contamination of the water environment. Many synthetic organic compounds are found toxic. Some are mutagenic and carcinogenic even at trace level concentration. The impact of these pollutants has become one of the major issues of environmental concern in recent years.
The exchange of organic chemicals across the air-water interface is a significant process affecting the fate of organic compounds released into rivers and lakes. Benzene, toluene, trichloroethylene and tetra-chloroethylene were selected as the model chemicals in this study. These four chemicals have been classified as priority pollutants by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and designated as hazardous waste chemicals by the Ontario Ministry of Environment, Canada. The equilibrium distribution of the selected volatile organic compounds between air and water was simulated in the laboratory at the University of Saskatchewan. A gas chromatograph headspace auto sampler system was used to analyze the chemical concentrations. Partition coefficients were determined from the experimental results. The effect of ionic strength on the equilibrium partitioning of selected organic compounds was also investigated in this study. Concentrations of sodium chloride from 100 mol·m^-3 to 1 000 mol·m^-3 were used to simulate various ionic strengths in water at temperature of 20℃. Typical sea-water was simulated with 3.5% sodium chloride and tested at temperatures from 15℃ to 45℃. The salting-out coefficients for the selected organic compounds were determined.