Atrazine sorption on surface soils: time-dependent phase distribution and apparent desorption hysteresis

Non-equilibrium sorption–desorption behavior of atrazine was studied on two surface soils. Impact of sorption contact time was evaluated by interpreting temporal variations in Freundlich sorption isotherm parameters n(t) and KF(t) obtained from the phase distribution relationships. The extent of sorption linearity was very similar (n~0.90) for the two soils at all sorption contact times. KF(t) increased with contact time and stabilized upon reaching apparent equilibrium. KF for woodland soil was significantly higher than that for agricultural soil. The Apparent Hysteresis Index (AHI) parameter was used to quantify sorption–desorption hysteresis arising from non-equilibrium sorption. AHI was a function of the sorption contact time and correlated well with KF(t). The woodland soil sorbed more herbicide due to its higher organic matter content. However, a larger fraction of the herbicide sorbed to this soil was released rapidly (within 24 h) following sorptive uptake. The differences in sorption–desorption behavior of atrazine in the two soils appear to be related to variations in the type and location of organic matter in the two soils. The parameters KF(t) and AHI(t) consistently demonstrated the effects that arise when batch systems are not brought to equilibrium during sorption studies.