Co-contaminants and factors affecting the sorption behaviour of two sulfonamides in pasture soils

We investigated the effect of soil pH, organic carbon, ionic strength and steroid hormones on the sorption of sulfamethoxazole (SMO) and sulfachloropyridazine (SCP) in three pastoral soils of New Zealand. A model linking sorbate speciation with species-specific sorption coefficients describing the pH dependence of the apparent sorption coefficients was used to derive the fraction of each species of SMO. All soils displayed a decrease in sorption when pH was increased, with SMO exhibiting the highest sorption at pH 2. The cationic form of SMO appeared to sorb more close to pH ≥ pKa1 and, when pH ≥ pKa2 (6.5, 7.5 and 8.5) the anionic species seems to dominate, however, its sorption affinity to all soils was low. SMO sorption was affected by ionic strengths and organic carbon content, while the presence of hormones showed only a subtle decrease in SCP sorption in a selected model pasture soil.