Contribution of black carbon to nonlinearity of sorption and desorption of acetochlor on sediment

In order to investigate the contribution of various black carbon (BC) contents to nonlinearity of sorption and desorption isotherms for acetochlor on sediment, equilibrium sorption and desorption isotherms were determined to measure sorption and desorption of acetochlor in sediment amended with various amounts of BC. In this paper, two types of BC referred to as BC400 and BC500 were prepared at 400 degrees C and 500 degrees C, respectively. Higher preparation temperature facilitated the formation of micropores on BC to enhance its sorption capacity. Increase of the BC content obviously increased the sorption amount and reduced the desorption amount for acetochlor. When the BC500 contents in total organic carbon (TOC) increased from 0 to 60%, Freundlich sorption coefficient (K-f) increased from 4.07 to 35.74, and desorption hysteresis became gradually obvious. When the content of BC in TOC was lower than 23%, the sorption isotherm had a significant linear correlation (p = 0.05). In case of desorption, a significant nonlinear change could be observed when the content of BC was up to 13%. Increase of BC content in the sediment would result in shifting the sorption-desorption isotherms from linearity to nonlinearity, which indicated that contribution of BC to nonlinear adsorption fraction became gradually remarkable.