The transport of liquid and gaseous pollutants through porous geological media depends on the physical and chemical characteristics of the unconsolidated material, rocks and water, associated with the characteristics of the pollutants. Of these characteristics, the sorption aspect is of fundamental importance and is a function of the mineral proportions, pH, Eh and void aspects encountered in the porous media. In the São Carlos region, located in the eastern-central part of the State of São Paulo, Brazil, there are basically two types of unconsolidated materials: the first is a residual from sandstones cemented with fines and the secondarily composed of claystones, siltstones and conglomerates from the Cretaceous Period that constitute the Itaqueri Formation; the second is a sandy sediment of the Tertiary Period. These geological conditions are found in areas where chemical products are disposed of, characterized as either diffuse or point pollutions sources. Because of this situation, a study was developed to evaluate the sorption aspects of some inorganic cations that are frequently found in these sources, in varied concentrations. Taken into consideration were their physical/chemical properties, such as: specific weight, grain size, mineralogy, cationic exchange capacity, pH, hydraulic conductivity. Batch tests were run using solutions of KCl, ZnCl2 and CuCl.H2O at three different pH values, and then with a combined solution (KCl + ZnCl2 + CuCl.H2O), also at three different pH values.
Sorption; batch tests; unconsolidated material; São Carlos; Brazil
