High mobility of SDBS-dispersed single-walled carbon nanotubes in saturated and unsaturated porous media.

Knowledge of the mobility of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in porous media is very important to assess their impacts on the environment. In this study, a series of laboratory experiments were conducted to explore the transport mechanisms of sonication shortened, sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (SDBS) dispersed single-walled nanotubes (SWNTs) in both saturated and unsaturated sand columns. Laboratory columns packed with quartz sand with different combinations of moisture content and grain-size distribution were used to examine the breakthrough behavior of the SDBS-dispersed SWNTs. Bubble column experiments were also conducted to study the interactions between the SDBS-dispersed SWNTs and the air-water interface. Packed-column experimental results showed that the SDBS-dispersed SWNTs were highly mobile for most of the experimental conditions tested. The surface deposition of the SWNTs in the sand columns was low because all the interactive surfaces were negatively charged. Physical trapping was not observed for the SWNTs in the saturated porous media of different grain-size distributions because the SWNTs might orient parallel to the streamlines in flow to reduce their retention. Retention of the SWNTs in unsaturated porous media occurred only at a very low moisture content (<0.10). Otherwise, reduction in moisture content showed little impact on the retention and transport of the SWNTs in unsaturated porous media. Findings from the bubble-column experiments confirmed that the SDBS-dispersed SWNTs did not attach to the air-water interface. A mathematical model based on the advection-dispersion equation coupled with reaction-rate laws successfully described the retention and transport of the SDBS-dispersed SWNTs in both water-saturated and unsaturated columns.