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Surface pore tension and adsorption characteristics of polluted sediment

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Abstract

Most natural sediment particles have numerous pores and a complex surface texture which facilitates their adsorption of contaminants. Particle surface structure, therefore, is an important instrumental factor in the transport of contaminants, especially in water environments. This paper reports on the results of adsorption-desorption experiments to analyze polluted sediment surface pore tension characteristics performed on samples from the bottom of Guanting Reservoir. In our analysis, the Frenkel-Halsey-Hill (FHH) equation is applied to calculate the fractal dimensions of particles to quantify the surface roughness and pore tension characteristics. The results show that the surface fractal dimensions of sediment particle surfaces normally measure from 2.6 to 2.85. The volume of pores smaller than 10 nm changes significantly after being contaminated with pollutants and the fractal dimension decreases because the pores adsorb the contaminants.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Hydraulic Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Hydro-science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

    HongWei Fang, MingHong Chen & ZhiHe Chen

Authors
  1. HongWei Fang
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  2. MingHong Chen
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  3. ZhiHe Chen
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to HongWei Fang or MingHong Chen.

Additional information

Supported by the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (Grant No. 50325929) and the National Key Technology R&D Program during the 11th Five-Year Plan Period (Grant No. 2006BAB05B05)

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Fang, H., Chen, M. & Chen, Z. Surface pore tension and adsorption characteristics of polluted sediment. Sci. China Ser. G-Phys. Mech. Astron. 51, 1022–1028 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11433-008-0104-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11433-008-0104-8

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