The evaporation of a separate-phase, multicomponent liquid hydrocarbon mixture in water-wetted porous media was studied to determine the role of water in the vaporization of contaminants during soil venting. Experiments were conducted in one-dimensional (1-D) water-wetted sand columns containing liquid hydrocarbons under both through-flow and bypass-flow configurations. One-dimensional through-flow and bypass-flow multicomponent drying models were applied to predict the removal rates of the hydrocarbons, as well as the effluent gas concentrations, liquid component concentration distribution in the sand, and the position of the evaporation front. Theoretical predictions agreed well with experimental data when water was present in residual amounts. Experimental findings show that the presence of water does not influence the hydrocarbon vaporization rates in both through-flow and bypass-flow drying cases, although the bypass-flow theory predicts lower effluence in a system with high water content. ¿ 1999 American Geophysical Union