Journal
ECOTOXICOLOGY
Volume 20, Issue 5, Pages 1141-1147Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s10646-011-0665-6
Keywords
Tetracycline; Adsorption; Kaolinite; Copper; Cations; Humic acid
Categories
Funding
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [20807022]
- Key Special Program on the Science and Technology for the Pollution Control and Treatment of Water Bodies [2009ZX07210-004, 2008ZX07316-004]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Contamination of environmental matrixes by human and animal wastes containing antibiotics is a growing health concern. Because tetracycline is one of the most widely-used antibiotics in the world, it is important to understand the factors that influence its mobility in soils. This study investigated the effects of pH, background electrolyte cations (Li(+), Na(+), K(+), Ca(2+) and Mg(2+)), heavy metal Cu(2+) and humic acid (HA) on tetracycline adsorption onto kaolinite. Results showed that tetracycline was greatly adsorbed by kaolinite over pH 3-6, then decreased with the increase of pH, indicating that tetracycline adsorption mainly through ion exchange of cations species and complexation of zwitterions species. In the presence of five types of cations (Li(+), Na(+), K(+), Ca(2+) and Mg(2+)), tetracycline adsorption decreased in accordance with the increasing of atomic radius and valence of metal cations, which suggested that outer-sphere complexes formed between tetracycline and kaolinite, and the existence of competitor ions lead to the decreasing adsorption. The presence of Cu(2+) greatly enhanced the adsorption probably by acting as a bridge ion between tetracycline species and the edge sites of kaolinite. HA also showed a major effect on the adsorption: at pH < 6, the presence of HA increased the adsorption, while the addition of HA showed little effect on tetracycline adsorption at higher pH. The soil environmental conditions, like pH, metal cations and soil organic matter, strongly influence the adsorption behavior of tetracycline onto kaolinite and need to be considered when assessing the environmental toxicity of tetracycline.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available