Analysis of the sorption properties of different soils using water vapour adsorption and potentiometric titration methods

Abstract

Abstract Parameters of specific surface area as well as surface charge were used to determine and compare sorption properties of soils with different physicochemical characteristics. The gravimetric method was used to obtain water vapour isotherms and then specific surface areas, whereas surface charge was estimated from potentiometric titration curves. The specific surface area varied from 12.55 to 132.69 m2 g−1 for Haplic Cambisol and Mollic Gleysol soil, respectively, and generally decreased with pH (R=0.835; α = 0.05) and when bulk density (R=−0.736; α = 0.05) as well as ash content (R=−0.751; α = 0.05) increased. In the case of surface charge, the values ranged from 63.00 to 844.67 μmol g−1 Haplic Fluvisol and Mollic Gleysol, respecively. Organic matter gave significant contributions to the specific surface area and cation exchange capacity due to the large surface area and numerous surface functional groups, containing adsorption sites for water vapour molecules and for ions. The values of cation exchange capacity and specific surface area correlated linearly at the level of R=0.985; α = 0.05.