Quantifying effects of primary parameters on adsorption–desorption of atrazine in soils

PURPOSE: Adsorption and desorption are important processes that influence the transport, transformation, and bioavailability of atrazine in soils. Equilibrium batch experiments were carried out to investigate the adsorption–desorption characteristics of atrazine. The objectives of this study were to (1) determine and quantify the main soil parameters governing atrazine adsorption and desorption phenomena; (2) find the correlativity between the identified soil parameters; and (3) investigate the universal desorption hysteresis traits. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fifteen soils with contrasting physico-chemical characteristics were collected from 11 provinces in eastern China. The equilibrium time was 24 h both for adsorption and desorption experiments. Atrazine was detected by Waters 2695/UV HPLC. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Adsorption isotherms of atrazine could be well described by the Freundlich equation (r ≥ 0.994, p < 0.01). The total organic carbon (TOC) was the first independent variable that described 53.0 % of the total variability of K f, followed by the pH (9.9 %), and the clay (4.0 %) and silt (1.2 %) contents, separately; while the primary soil properties that affect desorption parameters included the TOC, pH, free Fe₂O₃ (Fed) and the sand content, with the biggest contribution achieved by the TOC (ranged from 48.5–78.1 %). The results showed that when the content ratio of clay to TOC (RCO) was less than 40, the atrazine adsorption was largely influenced by the organic matrix, while when the RCO was greater than 40, they were vital affected by the clay content. CONCLUSIONS: Adsorption–desorption isotherms of atrazine in soils were nonlinear. The content of TOC, clay, and iron oxides, as well as the pH value were the key soil parameters affecting the adsorption–desorption of atrazine in soil, among which the RCO especially exhibited relevance. Additionally, the desorption hysteresis existed for atrazine retention in all 15 tested soils, and the hysteretic effect enhanced with the increasing time for desorption. This would be ascribed to the heterogeneity physical–chemical properties of these soils.