Effect of Calcium on the Soil Adsorption of Cadmium and Zinc in Some Spanish Sandy Soils

Castellón Plain is a natural area with an extension of 464 km², situated in Castellón (eastern coast of Spain), with an important number of ceramic industries which generate waste waters containing cadmium and zinc. In this paper, equilibrium adsorption isotherms have been obtained to examine the behaviour of cadmium and zinc in three selected soils of Castellón Plain (Spain) by means of batch experiments. Both metals exhibit non-linear adsorption isotherms with adsorption maximum beyond the dissolved concentration range considered in this study. Statistical analysis showed that data fit slighty better to Freundlich linearization than that of Langmuir. Adsorption coefficients obtained from Freundlich approximation were calculated to evaluate the relative cadmium and zinc distribution between solution and studied soils obtaining coefficients ranging from 5200 to 5900 μg kg^-1μg l^{-1 -n} for cadmium and from 3500 to 43200 μg kg^-1μg l^{-1 -n} for zinc. The effects of salt concentration and calcium competition for adsorption sites were investigated providing different concentrations of CaCl₂ in background solutions. Adsorption capacities of cadmium and zinc in the studied soils decreased when the salt concentration increased. A tenfold increase in calcium concentration reduced the cadmium adsorption capacity approximately by one third whereas the Ca²⁺ ion does not seem a significant competitor with Zn²⁺ for adsorption sites in soils with high organic matter content, where precipitation of zinc can be expected.