Abstract: BTEX is a general designation of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene, which has been received wide attention because of its high biological toxicity. To investigate its environmental behavior in soil would help to understand its environmental fate and to evaluate its risks to ecosystems and human health. This paper summarized the environmental behavior of BTEX in soil from the aspects of adsorption-desorption, volatilization, eluviation, and degradation, with the focus on the factors affecting the adsorption and desorption of BTEX in soil. The future research directions were also discussed.

Key words: Soil oxidoreductase, Kinetics, Properties