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Partition of Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn among mineral particles during their sorption in soils

  • Soils, Sec 3 • Remediation and Management of Contaminated or Degraded Lands • Research Article
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Abstract

Purpose

Heterogeneity of soil mineral particles may lead to the misinterpretation of bulk sorption data on their role in metal sorption, which may be resolved through the direct observation of metal distribution among the soil particles after the sorption.

Materials and methods

Analytical transmission electron microscopy was used to study metal (Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn) sorption characteristics of clay minerals, Fe-oxyhydroxides and their natural assemblages in soils with contrasting pH under single element and competitive situations.

Results and discussion

Iron-oxyhydroxides sorbed higher metal amounts than clay mineral particles mostly, and the sorption capacity of the latter phases were more affected by competition. Iron-oxyhydroxide particles acted as effective metal sorbents in soils not only as individual particles but also as coatings on other mineral particles, and the structural Fe in clay minerals may also resulted in higher metal sorption in some cases. Besides the direct observation of metal sorption onto soil mineral particles, metal precipitates could be identified directly, and the role of organic surfaces in metal sorption could be inferred indirectly in certain cases.

Conclusions

Comparison of metal affinity sequences and their partition characteristics between the bulk soil and different mineral particles were found to be an effective tool to specify the most active mineral components in metal sorption at given soil and sorption condition.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Research, Development and Innovation Office (Project No. NKFIH K105009). Adrienn Tóth thanks for the support of the János Bolyai Research Scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Geological and Geochemical Research, Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budaörsi út 45., Budapest, 1112, Hungary

    Péter Sipos, Réka Balázs, Ivett Kovács & Tibor Németh

  2. Geographical Institute, Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budaörsi út 45., Budapest, 1112, Hungary

    Adrienn Tóth

  3. Institute for Technical Physics and Materials Science, Centre for Energy Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Konkoly-Thege Miklós út 29-33., Budapest, 1121, Hungary

    Viktória Kovács Kis

Authors
  1. Péter Sipos
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  2. Adrienn Tóth
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  3. Viktória Kovács Kis
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  4. Réka Balázs
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Correspondence to Péter Sipos.

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Sipos, P., Tóth, A., Kis, V.K. et al. Partition of Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn among mineral particles during their sorption in soils. J Soils Sediments 19, 1775–1787 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-018-2184-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-018-2184-z

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