Sorption and Desorption Behavior of Chloroanilines and Chlorophenols on Montmorillonite and Kaolinite

The bioavailability of pollutants, pesticides and/or their degradation products in soil depends on the strength of their sorption by the different soil components, particularly by the clay minerals. This study reports the sorption-desorption behavior of the environmentally hazardous industrial pollutants and certain pesticides degradation products, 3-chloroaniline, 3,4-dichloroaniline, 2,4,6-trichloroaniline, 4-chlorophenol, 2,4-dichlorophenol and 2,4,6-trichlorophenol on the reference clays kaolinite KGa-1 and Na-montmorillonite SWy-l. In batch studies, 2.0 g of clay were equilibrated with 100.0 mL solutions of each chemical at concentrations ranging from 10.0 to 200.0 mg/L. The uptake of the compounds was deduced from the results of HPLC-UV-Vis analysis. The lipophilic species were best retained by both clay materials. The most lipophilic chemical used in the study, 2,4,6-trichloroaniline, was also the most strongly retained, with sorption of up to 8 mg/g. In desorption experiments, which also relied on HPLC-UV-Vis technique, 2,4,6-trichloroaniline was the least desorbed from montmorillonite. However, on kaolinite all of the compounds under study were irreversibly retained. The experimental data have been modelled according to the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms. A hypothesis is proposed concerning the sorption mechanism and potential applications of the findings in remediation strategies have been suggested.     

Sorption of Pesticides on Kaolinite and Montmorillonite as a Function of Hydrophilicity

Pesticides and other organic species are adsorbed by soil via different mechanisms, with bond strengths that depend on the properties of both the soil and the pesticide. Since the clay fraction in soil is a preferential sorbent for organic matter, reference kaolinite and montmorillonite are useful models for studying the mechanism and the strength of sorption. This paper presents the results of batch experiments to investigate the interactions of kaolinite KGa-1 and montmorillonite SWy-1 with the following pesticides and organic species resulting from the natural degradation of pesticides in the environment: atrazine (1-chloro-3-ethylamino-5-isopropylamino-2,4,6-triazine), simazine (1-chloro-3,5-bisethylamino-2,4,6-triazine), diuron [1,1-dimethyl-3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)urea], aniline, 4-chlorophenol, 2,4-dichlorophenol, and 2,4,6-trichlorophenol. Each of these chemicals has different hydrophilicity. Systems containing 2.0 g of clay were put in contact with 100.0 mL of solutions of the pesticides at known concentration ranging from 1.0 to 5.0 mg/L, and the amount of solute adsorbed was evaluated through RP-HPLC analysis of the pesticide still present in the aqueous suspension. To test for electrostatic interactions between the clay surface and the pesticides, potentiometric titration was used to determine the permanent surface charge of clays. Experiments were performed at different pH values. The results indicate that, for the chemicals studied, neutral molecules are preferentially retained relative to ionized ones, and that montmorillonite is a more effective sorbent than kaolinite.