Release of heavy metals from a river sediment by a synthetic polymer and an agricultural residue: Variation with time of contact

A comparative study of the solubilization of Fe, Zn, Cu and Mn from a river sediment by solutions of a residue from agricultural industry and a synthetic polymer (SP) is presented. The agricultural residue shows a higher mobilising effect than the SP. The presence of the latter causes in most cases an initial solubilization and a readsorption afterwards, with a tendency to an equilibrium for long reaction times. The effect of the agricultural residue is not uniform for all metals studied, with a significant formation of metal‐organic complexes for Cu and Zn. In the presence of the SP, the proportion of complexes formed is significant only for Zn.