This report describes the factors that determine the extent of sorption of organic compounds that are representative of coal conversion waste streams. The compounds, all radiolabeled, were acetophenone; 1-naphthol; pyrene; 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene; 3-methylcholanthrene; dibenz(a,h)anthracene; acridine; 2,2'-biquinoline; 13H-dibenzo(a,i)carbazole; dibenzothiophene; benzidine; 2-aminoanthracene; 6-aminochrysene; and anthracene-9-carboxylic acid. Batch equilibrium isotherms were determined for each compound on 14 sediments and soils that had been collected from the Missouri, Illinois, Mississippi, and Ohio rivers and their watersheds. Laboratory procedures for determining octanol-water partition coefficients and water solubilities were developed and then performed on the compounds. The sorption constants were correlated with soil and sediment properties and with the water solubilities and octanol-water partition coefficients of the compounds. Regression equations were developed that allow prediction of a hydrophobic compound's linear partition coefficient from knowledge of the compound's octanol-water partition coefficient or its water solubility and the organic carbon content of the sediment or soil.

"Department of Agronomy, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign." "Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, University of Maryland." "Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign." "Environmental Processes Branch, Environmental Research Laboratory." "April 1980." "Project Officer: David S. Brown." U.S. EPA Contract No. Contract Number: 68-03-2555. Includes bibliographical references (pages 127-132).