Study of the influence of surfactants on the transfer of gases into liquids by inverse gas chromatography

The experimental technique of the reversed-flow version of inverse gas chromatography was applied for the study of effects of surfactants in reducing air–water exchange rates. The vinyl chloride (VC)–water system was used as a model, which is of great importance in environmental chemistry. Using suitable mathematical analysis, various physicochemical quantities were calculated, among which the most significant are: Partition coefficients of the VC gas between the surfactant interface and the carrier gas nitrogen, as well as between the bulk of the water+surfactant solution and the carrier gas nitrogen, overall mass transfer coefficients of VC in the liquid (water+surfactant) and the gas (nitrogen) phases, water and surfactant film transfer coefficients, nitrogen, water and surfactant phase resistances for the transfer of VC into the water solution, relative resistance of surfactant in the transfer of VC into the bulk of solution, exchange velocity of VC between nitrogen and the liquid solution, and finally the thickness of the surfactant stagnant film in the liquid phase, according to the three phase resistance model. From the variation of the above parameters with the surfactant’s concentration, important conclusions concerning the effects of surfactants on the transfer of a gas at the air–liquid interface, as well as to the bulk of the liquid were extracted. An interesting finding of this work was also that by successive addition of surfactant, the critical micelle concentration of surfactant was obtained, after which follows a steady-state for the transfer of the gas into the water body, which could be attributed to the transition from mono- to multi-layer state.