Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Google Scholar Articles by Gautier, M. Articles by Baillif, P.

Interactions of ammonium smectite with low-molecular-weight carboxylic acids

CNRS/INSU, Institut des Sciences de la Terre d'Orléans (ISTO), Université d'Orléans-Université de Tours, 1A rue de la Férollerie, 45071 Orléans Cedex 2, France

^* E-mail: mathieu.gautier{at}cnrs-orleans.fr

(Received 24 April 2008; revised 9 December 2008)

The percolation of water through waste landfill sites produces leachates with large amounts of pollutants. Clay barriers are often used to limit soil and underground water pollution. A better understanding of the interaction between ammonium smectite and carboxylic acids would contribute significantly to our understanding of such systems. The SWy-2 (Wyoming smectite) was exchanged with and then batched with carboxylic acids (acetic, formic, chloroacetic and oxalic) in concentrations between 0.01 M and 1 M. The solid phases obtained were analysed chemically and characterized by infrared absorption spectroscopy (IR) and powder X-ray diffraction (XRD). Ionic chromatography was used for the quantitative measurement of ammonium ions in the solution after the interaction. For the four acids, the interaction was characterized by a cationic exchange of to H₃O⁺. A partial exchange to Al³⁺ due to a partial dissolution of the sample in strong acidic medium was observed with chloroacetic and oxalic acids for which adsorption of molecules on the clay sample occurs, mainly through H-bonding with the cation. Moreover, the intercalation of oxalic acid in the interlayer space was highlighted.

KEYWORDS: ammonium, montmorillonite, SWy-2, carboxylic acids, acetic acid, formic acid, chloroacetic acid, oxalic acid, waste landfill, leachate