Adsorption of barium on kaolinite, illite and montmorillonite at various ionic strengths

Abstract

The sorption behaviour of Ba2+ in three different clay minerals from various regions of Turkey has been investigated by means of a tracer technique using Ba-133 in batch experiments. Sorption of Ba2+ on montmorillonite, kaolinite and illite has been studied in mixed solutions of BaCl2 and NaCl at ionic strengths ranging from 1 x 10(-3) M to 1 x 10(-1) M. The L-shape exchange isotherms for Ba2+-Na+ systems are well defined by a Langmuir type equation. The exchange capacity of Ba2+ ions for all three clay minerals increased with decreasing ionic strength.