Influence of Humic Acid on Water Adsorption Characteristics of Kaolin and Quartz

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Abstract
Water vapor adsorption isotherms were measured for samples of kaolin and quartz amended with different amounts of humic acid extracted from a Cambic Arenosol under forest. Applying the approximation of the adsorption isotherms with the BET equation the monolayer capacities (surface areas) for the studied systems were calculated. For kaolin systems the surface area decreased sharply at low humic acid additions and this slowly increased with the further rise of the humic acid content, whereas for the quartz the increase of surface area was only noted for high humic acid contents. Using an exponential isotherm equation with a local BET model, the adsorption energy distribution functions were calculated for kaolin systems. The shape of the adsorption energy distributions showed that the increase in humic acid content changed the character of the surface from more hydrophilic to more hydrophobic. For intermediate humic acid contents, the energy distribution function had two maxima – more polar and less polar. At high humic acid contents the energy distribution function tended to the estimated value for pure humic acid, indicating high surface coverage with organic material.As measured by the mercury intrusion porosimetry, for the kaolin samples the amount of the largest pores decreases and the amount of the smallest pores increases with the accumulation of humic acid. For the quartz systems only very high doses of humic acid are reflected in changes of pore size distribution.