Soil-water partition coefficients for organic compounds

Abstract

In the frame of the project 'Setting environmental quality objectives', organic carbon normalized partition coefficients (KocS) describing the partitioning of organic chemicals in soils and sediments were derived for, among others, halogenated biphenyls and benzyltoluenes, chlorinated anilines and nitrobenzenes, various pesticides, phthalate esters and organotin compounds. For that purpose a literature review with respect to adsorption experiments with soils and sediments was carried out. According to the equilibrium partitioning method the KocS can be used to derive quality objectives for soils and sediments from ecotoxicologically based quality objectives for water when toxicity data for soil or sediment organisms are not available. Furthermore, the KocS can be used to harmonize quality objectives for different compartments (soil, sediment, interstitial water and surface water).