Competitive adsorption behavior of heavy metals on kaolinite

Polluted and contaminated soils can often contain more than one heavy metal species. It is possible that the behavior of a particular metal species in a soil system will be affected by the presence of other metals. In this study we have investigated the adsorption of Cd(II), Cu(II), Pb(II), and Zn(II) onto kaolinite in single- and multi-element systems as a function of pH and concentration, in a background solution of 0.01 M NaNO3. In adsorption edge experiments, the pH was varied from 3.5 to 10.0 with total metal concentration 133.3 microM in the single-element system and 33.3 microM each of Cd(II), Cu(II), Pb(II), and Zn(II) in the multi-element system. The value of pH50 (the pH at which 50% adsorption occurs) was found to follow the sequence Cu