Removal of aluminum from aqueous solution by organic materials of agricultural use

With the objective of identify characteristics of organic materials of common use in agriculture, related to the aluminum removal from aqueous systems, a chemical characterization of six organic materials was carried out. Their capacity to remove aluminum was evaluated in the laboratory by correlating the observed Al-removal with their characteristics. 6 materials were used as follows: rice straw, chicken manure, cowpea, compost, earth warm compost and leonardite oxidable organic C, total N, P, Ca, Mg, Na, K and Al, pH, carbonates, CEC, exchangeable cations, hydrosoluble n and p, fulvic and humic acids, together with their totals acidity and functional groups (carboxylic and phenolic) were evaluated. To estimate the al-removal capacity by the organic materials in aqueous systems, seven aqueous solutions with different Al concentrations (from o to 900 mmol/L) were prepared at an initial pH value of 4.2 and a relation of organic material: aqueous of 180 mg: 200 ml. after shaking and filtration, the pH values and al concentration (by atomic absorption) were determined in the equilibrium solution. The adsorbed Al by the organic materials was calculated by the difference between the initial al concentrations and the amount found in the equilibrium solution. The al removal using all the organic materials was also measured from an aqueous solution, which contained 900 mmol/L of Al in a pH value range between 2.4 and 4.2. The most effective organic material to remove al was the chicken manure, this material removed up to the 80% of Al, leaving in the aqueous solutions concentrations up to 50 mmol/L. the effectiveness of the rest organic materials was as follows: compost, earth warm compost, cowpea, rice straw and leonardite. Positive and significative correlations were obtained between the Al-retention and the following variables: pH values of organic materials, pH values of the equilibrium solution, CaCO3 content, total and hydrosoluble P, total sum and exchangeable sum of the elements Ca, Mg, Na and K and N (total and hydrosoluble). Negative and significative correlations were observed between the Al retention and the following variables: total Al extracted Al with KCl and humic acids content and their carboxylic groups. It is inferred that the Al removal process from the solutions could also be due to the Al hydroxides and phosphates precipitation, to the cationic exchangeable between Al and cations such as Ca, Mg and K and in less scale to the Al-MO complex formation