Enhanced solubilization of a metal-organic contaminant mixture (Pb, Sr, Zn, and perchloroethylene) by cyclodextrin

Prior work has suggested that (carboxymethyl)-beta-cyclodextrin (CMCD) is capable of simultaneously enhancing the solubility of organics and metals, but sparse experimental data and no theoretical models have been published on this process. Preciously, a geochemical model for metal complexation by CMCD was formulated using PHREEQC on the basis of conditional stability constants measured in experiments using single-metal salts. In this study, the model is expanded to simultaneous metal and organic (perchloroethylene, PCE) complexation by CMCD. Experiments to verify the application of the formulation to mixed-waste systems were performed using solutions containing multiple metal ions (Pb, Sr, and Zn) and in a separate experiment introducing PCE with multiple metal ions. These experimental results show simultaneous solubility enhancement of metals and PCE. For solutions up to about 50 g/L CMCD, the model accurately predicted the simultaneous solubility enhancement for PCE, Pb, and Zn, while the difference between the measured and predicted Sr concentrations was accurate to within 15%. At CMCD concentrations greater than 50 g/L, the observed metal solubilities were greater than predicted (10% for Pb and Zn), probably due to the difficulty in accurately representing the activity and the effect on the ionic strength of functional groups on large organic molecules at higher concentrations.