350-4 Competitive Adsorption of Antimonate, Phosphate, and Sulfate On Gibbsite.



Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Henry Gonzalez Convention Center, Hall C, Street Level

Melanie Stewart and Michael Essington, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN
Antimony (Sb) is a growing concern for many DoD installations, as well as private shooting range facilities, and is found in the soil as a result of the weathering of lead bullet fragments.  In the soil environment, Sb is found in the Sb(V) oxidation state, existing as the hydroxyanion Sb(OH)6-. While in recent years phosphate (PO4) has been increasingly used to immobilize lead in situ, little is known about the effects of its application on Sb(V) bioaccessibility and mobility.  The objectives of this research were to elucidate the mechanisms of Sb(V) adsorption to gibbsite (Al(OH)3) as a function of ionic strength and pH, and to ascertain the competitive effects of PO4  and sulfate (SO4) on Sb(V) retention. Adsorption of Sb(V) was found to be pH and ionic strength dependent, with maximum adsorption at pH ~3-4 and in low ionic strength systems.  The order in which Sb(V) and PO4 (or SO4) were introduced to the gibbsite surface influenced the amount of Sb(V) retained. When PO4 (or SO4) was introduced to the system either prior to simultaneously with Sb(V), the amount of Sb(V) adsorbed was reduced. However, the addition of Sb(V) prior to PO4 (or SO4) had little effect on Sb(V) retention. This information is important in helping predict the fate and transport of Sb(V) in contaminated soils in the presence of commonly found anions.
See more from this Division: S02 Soil Chemistry
See more from this Session: Metals and Metaloids: II