Showing papers in "Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering-asce in 1964"

Surface area measurements and adsorption of soils

Abstract: The study was undertaken in an effort to gain a better understanding of the effect of the geometric properties and the mineralogical composition of soils on the adsorption of alkyl benzene sulfonate (ABS) on granular media. In this study siliceous, calcareous and silty clay soils were tested, their morphology was described, and photomicrographs of the grains were taken. Special emphasis was placed on the measurement of surface area, for which three different methods were used. The surface area and its relation to the adsorptive capacity of the soils was widely examined. It has been found that the surface area, calculated from geometry, represented only a fraction of the total surface area on which ABS could be adsorbed. On the other hand glycerol, a polar organic compound, was used successfully to determine the "adsorption," or active surface area of the soils. The results from the Blaine air permeability method were mainly used for comparison purposes. The surface areas obtained using the glycerol method, and the specific weight of the soils, were comparable with other published figures. /Author/