• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.342-356
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• 1992

Kinetic studies using stirred-flow methods were conducted with the Luisiana soil at three pH levels(pH 5, 6.5, and 8) and three temperature levels(10, 25, and $40^{\circ}C$) to explore effects on the rate of silica retention and release and to find out reaction mechanisms. In this study the maximum silica retention could not be obtained for long enough experimental time. The silica sorption isorption was C type fitted well to Freundlich equation. The pH of the soil suspension increased by the silica release process at low pH treatments(pH 5 and 6.5), while decreased at high pH treatment(pH 8). From the above findings It can be deduced that the mechanism of silica retention is a multilayer forming process to change the ligand form depending on pH condition. In the proposed mechanism the sorbed silica provide new binding sites for additional sorption of silica, while the activation energy for the formation of subsequent layers increases correspondingly. The silica retention and release process were well described by first-order and parabolic diffusion equation. However, clear interpretation for silica sorption mechanism using these equations could not be made. The validity of the fraction term (Fa and Fd) included in first-order and parabolic diffusion equation requires further examinations because the temperature effect on apparent rate constant shows no constant trends among temperature treatments, while there was a good trend in Elovich and modified Freundlich equation where the fraction term was not included.