Adsorption behavior of copper and zinc in soils: influence of pH on adsorption characteristics

The authors studied adsorption of copper and zinc on three different soils: a brown silty soil, an Oxisol, and a Podzol. They determined the amounts adsorbed and the shapes of adsorption isotherms as a function of the pH of the adsorbing medium at a constant ionic strength. The adsorbed amount-pH relationship depended strongly on the natures of the metallic cation and of the soil. The pH greatly influenced the characteristics of adsorption isotherms. They based interpretation on the variations with the pH of both adsorbent affinity for the metal in relation to the surface electric charge and chemical speciation in solution. The adsorption mechanism in the Oxisol probably involves monohydroxylated cations but is more determined by bivalent cations in the brown silty soil and the Podzol. From a general point of view, adsorption of copper and zinc cannot be represented with a single adsorption constant, but should be described by adsorption isotherms obtained at various pH values.