Langmuir and Freundlich models applied to copper and zinc adsorption in Brazilian soils

The objective of this work was to evaluate the adsorption of copper and zinc and the influence of soil properties, pH, cation exchange capacity, clay and iron oxide contents, in six natural soils of Minas Gerais State, Brazil. The copper and zinc adsorption curves were plotted for triplicate soil samples (1 g) suspended in 25 mL of solution containing the individual metals in nitrate form prepared in 0.01 mol L-1 CaCl2 in concentrations from 0 to 100 µg mL-1 and 0 to 40 µg mL-1, respectively. The amounts of adsorbed elements in the supernatant were analyzed and fitted to the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms. The soils with higher clay and iron oxide contents and higher pH (mesoferric dystrophic oxisol, chernosol argiluvic haplic eutric cambisol and Tb) showed the highest adsorption capacity and copper and zinc binding energy, indicating the low availability of the contaminant load to the soil, which can be considered favorable to low contamination a priori. In high availability conditions in Cambisol, Plinthosol Petric concretionary dystrophic and orthic Quartzarenic Neosol latosol, the metals tend to be less adsorbed and/or more weakly retained to the soil constituents, being more prone to contamination.