Effect of leachate composition on the adsorption properties of two soils

The experimental results show that the composition of the contaminant leachate affects the adsorption behavior for the soil tested. However, this conclusion is based on the assumption that the soil adsorption isotherm is linear. To investigate this effect when the adsorption isotherm is nonlinear, a series of batch tests were conducted with a single-salt solution (KCl, CaCl2, and NaCl solution, respectively) and multi-salt solution (aqueous miscible solution containing KCl, CaCl2, and NaCl) for the selected two soils from Japan. A comparison of the test results between these two conditions indicated that for a specified cation of interest, soils adsorbed larger amounts of cations in the case of the single-salt condition relative to the multisalt condition. The Freundlich equation was adopted to fit the experimental data, and the model parameters are presented. The relative cation adsorption of soils is provided and the controlling factors are discussed.