Characterization of the Songhua River sediments and evaluation of their adsorption behavior for nitrobenzene

The explosion at a plant of the Jilin Petrochemical Corporation on 13 November, 2005, and the spill of an estimated 100 t of toxic substances (nitrobenzene as the main component) into the Songhua River received worldwide attention. This study has focused on the adsorption behavior of nitrobenzene that spilled onto sediments along the Songhua River, which was one of the efforts to evaluate the fate of nitrobenzene after the spillage event. The organic carbon contents of these sediments along the Songhua River varied from 2.1 g TOC/kg at Hulanhekouxia to 86.1 g TOC/kg at Jiuzhan. The average volumetric particle diameter also varied largely from 11 mu m at Jiangchuan to 311 mu m at Hulanhekouxia. The sediment in the Jiuzhan section showed the highest potential for nitrobenzene adsorption (8.3 mg/kg sediment), whereas, that at Hulanhekouxia exhibited the lowest adsorption capacity, of 1.6 mg/kg sediment. The nitrobenzene adsorption potential is linearly related to the organic carbon content of sediments (R-2 = 0.609), indicating that the organic carbon content is the main factor affecting the adsorption behavior of sediments along the Songhua River. Conclusively, the adsorption of nitrobenzene onto the sediments is insignificant, and the release of nitrobenzene from sediments is of minor importance.