Comparing uranyl sorption complexes on soil and reference clays

Clay minerals and other components in natural soils may play a key role in limiting the mobility of uranium in the environment through the formation of sorption complexes. Reference clays are frequently used as models to study sorption processes because they have well-known chemical and physical properties, but they may differ chemically and morphologically from clays derived from natural soils. Therefore, inferences based on reference clay data have been questioned. The authors have used luminescence and x-ray absorption spectroscopies to characterize the sorption complexes of aqueous uranyl (UO22+) species on two soil smectites from the Kenoma and Ringold formations, and compared these results to those obtained on reference smectite clays. The pH dependence of uptake suggests that the ratio of sorption on amphoteric edge sites is greater for the soil smectites than for reference clays such as Wyoming montmorillonite (SWy-1). The luminescence spectra for uranyl sorbed to the soil clays are very similar to those for uranyl sorbed principally to the edge sites of SWy-1. This observation supports the solution data suggesting that adsorption to amphoteric sites is a more important mechanism for soil clays. However, the spectral data indicate that the sorption complexes on natural and reference clays are quite similar. Furthermore, as with the reference clays, the authors have found that the chemistry of the solution plays a greater role in defining the sorption complex than does the clay matrix. Thus, if differences in surface properties are adequately taken into account, the reference clays may serve as useful analogs for soil clays in investigations of metal-ion sorption