Soluble phosphate is a common ingredient of fertilizer used in agriculture production all over the world. This chemical mixed with soil is transported into the water and marine environment via rainfall causing a range of environmental problems such as toxic algae bloom. Kaolin clay is a common material found in soil and is used as a model system to understand the effects of phosphate adsorption on the flocculation/dispersion of the clay slurries. In the topics, torrential downpours are common. The large water flow will easily disperse the unflocculated or weakly flocculated sediments over a wide area including river and marine environments. Phosphate adsorption was found to weaken the interparticle forces between clay platelets in the slurries. At high enough concentration, it will completely deflocculate the clay slurries, i.e. the net interparticle force is repulsive. A deflocculated slurry is characterised by a low viscosity and no yield stress. As a result, it is much easier to disperse this slurry over a wide area possible even in a small downpour. This study will present the flow and yield stress behaviour of kaolin clay slurries under the influence of adsorbed phosphate.

Background, aim, and scope Unsaturated esters are emitted to the atmosphere from biogenic and anthropogenic sources, including those from the polymer industry. Little information exists concerning the atmospheric degradation of unsaturated esters, which are mainly initiated by OH radicals. Limited information is available on the degradation of alkenes by Cl atoms and almost no data exists for the reactions of unsaturated esters with Cl atoms. This data is necessary to assess the impact of such reactions in maritime environments where, under circumstances, OH radical- and Cl atom-initiated oxidation of the compounds can be important. Rate coefficients for the reactions of chlorine atoms with vinyl acetate, allyl acetate, and n-butyl acrylate have been determined at 298 ± 3 K and atmospheric pressure. The kinetic data have been used in combination with that for structurally similar compounds to infer the kinetic contributions from the possible reaction channels to the overall reaction rate. Materials and methods The decay of the organics was followed using in situ Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and the rate coefficients were determined using a relative kinetic method and different hydrocarbon reference compounds. Results The following room temperature rate coefficients (in cm³ molecule⁻¹ s⁻¹) were obtained: k ₁ (Cl + CH₃C(O)OCH=CH₂) = (2.68 ± 0.91) x 10⁻¹⁰, k ₂ (Cl + CH₃C(O)OCH₂CH=CH₂) = (1.30 ± 0.45) x 10⁻¹⁰, and k ₃ (Cl + CH₂=CHC(O)O(CH₂)₃CH₃) = (2.50 ± 0.78) x 10⁻¹⁰, where the uncertainties are a combination of the 2σ statistical errors from linear regression analyses and a contribution to cover uncertainties in the rate coefficients of the reference hydrocarbons. Discussion This is the first kinetic study of the title reactions under atmospheric conditions. The kinetic data were analyzed in terms of reactivity trends and used to estimate the atmospheric lifetimes of the esters and assess their potential importance in the marine atmosphere. Conclusions Although reaction with OH radicals is the major atmospheric sink for the unsaturated esters studied, reaction with Cl atoms can compete in the early morning hours in coastal areas where the Cl concentration can reach peak values as high as 1 x 10⁵ atoms cm⁻³. The calculated residence times show that the chemistry of unsaturated esters will impact air quality locally near their emission sources. Recommendations and perspectives The reactions need to be studied over the range of temperatures and pressures generally encountered in the marine atmosphere. In addition, product studies should also be performed as a function of temperature since this will allow degradation mechanisms to be derived, which are representative for the wide range of conditions occurring in marine environments. Inclusion of the kinetic and product data in tropospheric numerical models will allow an assessment of potential environmental impacts of the esters for different marine pollution scenarios.