Scavenging of Cd through Fe/Mn oxides within natural surface coatings

The dynamics of Cd scavenging from solutions by Fe/Mn oxides in natural surface coatings (NSCs) was investigated under laboratory conditions. Selective extraction methods were employed to estimate the contributions of Fe/Mn oxides, where hydroxylamine hydrochloride (0.01 mol/L NH2OH·HCl + 0.01 mol/L HNO3), sodium dithionite (0.4 mol/L Na2S2O4) and nitric acid (10% HNO3) were used as extraction reagents. The Cd scavenging was accomplished with developing periods of the NSCs (totally 21 data sets). The resulting process dynamics fitted well to the Elovich equation, demonstrating that the amount of Cd scavenged was proportional to the increments of Fe/Mn oxides that were accumulated in the NSCs. The amount of Cd bound to Fe oxides (MCdFe) and Mn oxides (MCdMn) could be quantified by solving two equations based on the properties of two extraction reagents. The amount of Cd scavenged by Fe/Mn oxides could also be estimated using MCdFe and MCdMn divided by the total amounts of Fe and Mn oxides in the NSCs, respectively. The results indicated that the Cd scavenging by Fe/Mn oxides was dominated by Fe oxides, with less roles attributed to Mn oxides. The estimated levels of Cd scavenging through Fe and Mn oxides agreed well with those predicted through additive-adsorption and linear-regression models.