A novel technique using on-line microfiltration and HPLC analysis has been used to study sorption kinetics and sorption equilibrium of the herbicide atrazine with the clay minerals montmorillonite, kaolinite, and illite and the clay fraction of a soil. Fast and slow labile sorption have been observed for atrazine along with a reversible but kinetically slow sorption/desorption process that is consistent with diffusion of pesticide into the interior of the clay particles. Labile sorption capacity, mole fraction site coverage, labile sorption equilibrium function, and distribution coefficient were determined for the clay minerals in aqueous slurries with atrazine. The identification and quantitative descriptions of key chemical species avoid some of the commonly reported hysteresis problems. Distribution coefficients are derived from the equilibrium constants so that comparisons may be made with the results of other workers.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.