Technical Bulletin No. 0137: The Effects of Higher Alcohols, Esters, and Carboxylic Acids on the Rate of Oxygen Absorption in Water

The rate of solution of oxygen in water from the atmosphere is determined by a number of factors. In systems dissolving oxygen by diffusion or sparging, this rate is controlled to a major degree by the power employed to expose the liquid to the gas. Little was known at the time this work was undertaken concerning the effect of low concentrations of surface-active chemicals on the rate of oxygen solution. With the advent of wide use of surfactants, such as household detergents, interest in the effect on aeration processes of sewage treatment became evident in the technical literature. While many such surfactants appear to reduce the oxygen transfer rate, some showed signs of raising it. For this reason, it was believed that organic compounds of certain types might be usefully applied to aeration systems for the purpose of reducing the power requirement for oxygen solution.