| Title |
Phosphorus Transport in Saturated Soil Columns : Sorption Isotherm and Mobility of Phosphorus |
| Authors |
( Seung Hwan Lee ; Kyu Hong Ahn ) |
| Abstract |
Excessive phosphorus (P as orthophosphate) is one of the major pollutants in natural water that are responsible for algae blooms and eutrophication. P removal by soil is an attractive solution if the P sorption capacity of the soil is significant. To design an efficient land treatment facility, basic information on the behavior of P in the media and water environment is required. In this study, detailed column experiments were conducted to study the P transport under dynamic condition, and mathematical models were developed to describe this process. The column experiments conducted with a sandy loam soil from North Sydney, Australia, as an adsorbing medium indicated its high sorption capacity of P. P transport in the soil column exhibited characteristic S-shaped or curvilinear breakthrough curves. The simulated results from a dynamic physical non-equilibrium sorption model (DPNSM) and Freundlich isotherm constants satisfactorily matched the corresponding experimental breakthrough data. The mobility of P is restricted by the adsorbent. |