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Ion-Exchange Properties of Strontium in a Calcareous Soil¹

ABSTRACT

The exchange of strontium ion for calcium of the soil complex was found to be a function of the initial strontium concentration, the pH of the equilibrium system, and the nature and concentration of the complementary ions. The ratio of the exchangeable strontium per gram of soil to that unadsorbed per milliliter of solution was constant when the strontium-ion concentration was < 10^-5 M. The presence of other cations had little effect on the exchange of strontium when the initial strontium-ion concentration was < 10^-6 M. The exchange of strontium is particularly sensitive to pH—being maximum between pH 8 and 10 and decreasing rapidly as the pH is lowered below 8.0.

Strontium exchanged on a calcareous soil may be replaced by various cations by extensive leaching. Hydrogen ions readily replaces strontium. The effectiveness of other cations is a function of their concentration, charge, and thermodynamic activity.

Large volumes of solution containing radiostrontium are decontaminated on passing through a unit volume of the calcareous soil employed in this study. Such a soil is capable of concentrating 0.5 mc. of Sr⁹⁰ per g. of soil when the percolating solution contains < 10^-6 moles per liter of strontium.

¹ This article is based on work performed under Atomic Energy Commission Contract No. W-31-109-Eng-52. Presented before Div. II, Soil Science Society of America, Nov. 21, 1957, at Atlanta, Ga.

² Senior Scientist, Hanford Laboratories Operation, General Electric Company, Richland, Washington. Author is now Soil Scientist, USDA, Oxford, Miss.

Received for publication May 7, 1958. Accepted for publication May 26, 1958.