Original Articles: 2011 Vol: 3 Issue: 3
Mobility of adsorbed Lead in sandy loam and clay loam soils as influenced by Alkylbenzenesulphonate surfactant
Abstract
Realease of lead onto the soils as a result of agricultural and industrial activities may pose a serious threat to the environment. A laboratory soil column experiments were conducted to determine the extent of Pb leaching from soil percolated with influent that contained the surfactant alkylbenzenesulphonate. The results of Pb breakthrough curves (BTCs) showed that more pore volumes of influents were required to reach the relative concentration ratio of 1 (C/C0=1) for the two soils namely sandy loam soil and clay loam soil treated with the influent alkylbenzenesulphonate. The concentration of Pb in the column effluents of soils percolated with 0.01M KCl in 0.01% alkylbenzenesulphonate and with 0.01M KCl in 0.05% alkylbenzenesulphonate were significantly less than those percolated with 0.01M KCl with the same volumes of effluents collected. This clearly indicates that the anionic surfactant alkylbenzenesulphonate which are negatively charged have strong affinity for Pb+2 in soils and stabililzed in soils and thus reduced lead mass leached from the soil columns. Further it is observed that the characteristics of soil components related to Pb adsorption affected the adsorption as well as desorption process and subsequent mobility of Pb in soil environment.