Abstract
The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of the ions contained in seawater on the desorption of manganese (II) (Mn (II)) from artificially-contaminated montmorillonite. Prior to the desorption experiments, batch Mn (II) sorption experiments were performed to evaluate if ion exchange reactions played an important role in Mn(II) sorption onto montmorillonite. The results showed that the sorption of Mn(II) was not significantly influenced by pH when pHɟ.0. However, the presence of NaCl strongly hindered the sorption of Mn(II), demonstrating that ion exchange reaction does play an important role in this pH range. The results of desorption experiments showed that, as expected, the ions contained in seawater significantly enhanced the desorption of Mn(II). This suggests that Mn(II) in montmorillonite in river-suspended sediments may be desorbed at the estuaries.
