Lead (Pb) is one of the most toxic, hazardous pollutants available in landfill leachate. Loess-amended soil buffers are found suitable and effective in attenuating migration of Pb and the other trace metals. High concentration of ammonium (NH4+ > 1000 mg/l) is also reported in landfill leachate, and therefore, it is essential to investigate the transport of lead under such condition. In this study, the mechanisms and the capacity of loess to adsorb Pb under high NH4+ concentration were investigated. Adsorption isotherm test data were obtained for 25 °C, 35 °C and 45 °C. The maximum adsorption capacity is estimated to be 2101.97 mg/g at 25 °C and 4292.8 mg/g at 45 °C under 1000 mg/l NH4+. The binding sites of Pb on loess are positively related to each other at low temperatures (25-35 °C). The thermodynamic analysis indicates that adsorption process is endothermic and non-spontaneous and the system randomness increases with reaction time. The kinetic test data, fitted with a pseudo-second-order kinetic model and an intraparticle diffusion model, suggests that removal of Pb is driven by both membrane and intraparticle diffusions. The SEM, XRD and FTIR analyses indicate flocculation, precipitations as well as some ion exchange processes, which perhaps combinedly increases adsorption of both NH4+ and Pb in loess. The two kinds of precipitations are involved for the removal of Pb. The precipitations of PbCO3, Pb(OH)2 and PbCO3·2H2O are formed by the reactions between calcite and lead. The other precipitation of white basic salt (Pb2O(NO3)2) is formed by the reactions among Pb2+, NO3- and aqueous ammonia under alkaline environment of loess slurry.
Keywords: Landfill leachate; Loess; Membrane diffusion; Multi-component adsorption; NH4 +; Pb.