Lead adsorption onto "red soils" as function of environmental conditions

The adsorption characteristics of the "Red Soil" with respect to lead were studied as function of different experimental conditions. Lead adsorption was investigated as function of the complexing capacity of the liquid phase (background electrolyte NaClO4, NaCl, CH3COONa e EDTA), pH (experimental range 4-7) and ionic strength (experimental range 0.001-0.35 M), by determining the adsorption isotherms at the different conditions. Experimental results allowed to identify the presence of different sorption sites, acting on lead removal through different mechanisms (ion exchange and surface complexation). These sorption sites are differently affected by changing the experimental conditions. Adsorption representation in terms of free metal was not able to describe the experimental behaviour, especially when different charged species can be formed and might be sorbed at the surface with different affinities. Particular attention was given to the optimisation of the experimental system based on the flow-through reactor set-up, in order to carry out adsorption tests more representative of the field situation.