Applications of Equilibrium Thermodynamics - Elements of Environmental Engineering: Thermodynamics and Kinetics - page 167

TABLE 4.14
log K BW −

log K ow Correlations
log K BW =

a log K ow + b

r 2

Chemical Class a b Species

Various 0.76 − 0.23 0.823 Fathead minnow, bluegill,

trout

Ether, chlorinated compounds 0.542 + 0.124 0.899 Trout

Pesticides, PAHs, PCBs 0.85 − 0.70 0.897 Bluegill, minnow, trout

Halogenated hydrocarbons,
halobenzenes, PCBs,
diphenyl oxides, P-pesticides,
acids, ethers, anilines

0.935 − 1.495 0.757 Various

Acridines 0.819 − 1.146 0.995 Daphnia pulex

Source: From Veith, G.D. et al. 1980. An evaluation of using partition coefficients and water solubility
to estimate the bioconcentration factors for organic chemicals in fish. ASTM SPE 707, ASTM,
Philadelphia, PA, pp. 116-129; Neely, W.B. et al. 1974. Environmental Science andTechnology
8, 1113-1116; Kenaga, E.E. and Goring, C.A.I. 1980. Relationship between water solubility,
soil sorption, octanol-water partitioning, and concentration of chemicals in biota, ASTM SPE
707, pp. 78-115; Southworth, G.R. et al. 1978. Water Research 12, 973-977.

Thus K BW = 0.048 K ow . The implication is that fish is about 5% lipid or it behaves

as if it is about 5% octanol by volume. The above correlation can give estimates
of the partitioning of hydrophobic organic compounds into biota provided (i) the
equilibrium assumption is valid, and (ii) the nonlipid contributions are negligible. It
should be borne in mind, however, that the correlation is of dubious applicability for
tiny organic species such as plankton, which have very large area-to-volume ratios
and hence surface adsorption may be a dominant mechanism of partitioning. Other
available correlations are given in Table 4.14.

E XAMPLE 4.22 B IOCONCENTRATION F ACTOR FOR A P OLLUTANT

A fish that weighs 3 lb resides in water contaminated with biphenyl at a concentration
of 5 mg/L. What is the equilibrium concentration in the fish?
For biphenyl, log K ow = 4.09. Hence, log K BW = 4.09 − 1.32 = 2.77. K BW =
589 L/kg. Hence, C i B = 589 ( 5 ) = 2944 mg/kg and mass in the fish = ( 2944 ) (3)
( 0.45 ) = 3974 mg = 3.97 g.

4.5 AIR-TO-AEROSOL PARTITION CONSTANT
Particulates (aerosols) in air adsorb volatile and semi-volatile compounds from the
atmosphere in accordance with the expression derived by Junge (1977). If W i ( g/m 3

air) is the amount of a solute associated with total suspended particulate concen-
tration C sp (

μ

g/m 3 air), and C i a (ng/m 3 ) is the concentration in the adjoining air in μ