Characterizing particle-scale equilibrium adsorption and kinetics of uranium(VI) desorption from U-contaminated sediments

Rates of U(VI) release from individual dry-sieved size fractions of a field-aggregated, field-contaminated composite sediment from the seasonally saturated lower vadose zone of the Hanford 300-Area were examined in flow-through reactors to maintain quasi-constant chemical conditions. The principal source of variability in equilibrium U(VI) adsorption properties of the various size fractions was the impact of variable chemistry on adsorption. This source of variability was represented using surface complexation models (SCMs) with different stoichiometric coefficients with respect to hydrogen ion and carbonate concentrations for the different size fractions. A reactive transport model incorporating equilibrium expressions for cation exchange and calcite dissolution, along with rate expressions for aerobic respiration and silica dissolution, described the temporal evolution of solute concentrations observed during the flow-through reactor experiments. Kinetic U(VI) desorption was well described using a multirate SCM with an assumed lognormal distribution for the mass-transfer rate coefficients. The estimated mean and standard deviation of the rate coefficients were the same for all