Sodium-cadmium and sodium-zinc exchangeability in montmorillonite

Abstract

A sodium montmorillonite from Ivancice (Czech Republic) was treated with solutions containing various molar concentrations of Zn and Cd for the purpose of determining ion exchange equilibria. The sorption isotherms for Zn and Cd exhibit a rather similar shape, which depends on pH; the maxima for Zn and Cd sorbed on Na-montmorillonite are very close to each other (e.g., 0.419 mmol/1 g and 0.440 mmol/1 g, respectively, for pH=5). It is a characteristic of both elements that a high level of sorption is reached at low concentration in solution. The leachability of Zn and Cd in deionized water from fully saturated montmorillonites is very similar, but a different results were observed for Na leached from fully saturated Na-montmorillonite. The total amount of leached Na was 21.7% (after four consecutive leaching runs). However, only 2.1% and 1.6% were found for Cd and Zn, respectively. Different quantities of Cd and Zn exchanged in Na-montmorillonite influence significantly the shape and position of maximum of the 001 XRD profile. Experimental XRD profiles of montmorillonites, fully saturated with Na, Cd and Zn, corrected for instrumental and physical factors exhibit maxima at 12.59, 14.86, and 14.77 A, respectively. When the d 001 spacing is determined from a corrected profile, it varies systematically with the percentage of exchanged Zn and Cd and the relationships seem to be linear for both elements. For montmorillonites, not fully saturated with one element, the peak shift and peak broadening, characteristic for mixed layered structures with random layer sequences, has been observed.