Influence of Soil Components on Sorption of Atrazine under Aerobic and Anoxic Conditions

Abstract

The adsorption of atrazine onto untreated and soils when oxides and hydroxides of Fe, Mn, and organic matter have been reduced was studied under aerobic and anoxic conditions. The Freundlich model appeared to fit the isotherm data better than the Langmuir model, while second-order reaction rates were best fit for atrazine in the aqueous phase. Simple regression analysis indicated that the Fe content of the geosorbents is the most important primary factor controlling the sorption processes of atrazine (r2 = 0.947). Similar sorption capacity of atrazine by geosorbents but different isotherm nonlinearity indicated different sorption domains due to structural modifications and hydrophobicity. The sample treated to significantly remove organic carbon exhibited the greatest organic carbon–normalized sorption capacity. There existed apparent sorption–desorption hysteresis for each sorbent–sorbate system with desorption being more significant under anoxic conditions. The study suggests that, in remediation exercise, in situ redox barriers such as Fe2+-enriched zones can be created by stimulation of Fe3+ through chemical reduction. This study observed that soil predominated by Fe and with low OC content is probably a more effective sorbent for atrazine, implying that atrazine applied to such soils is less likely to leach into groundwater.