Evaluating the role of re-adsorption of dissolved Hg²⁺ during cinnabar dissolution using isotope tracer technique

Journal Article · Thu Jun 02 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Journal of Hazardous Materials

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2016.05.084· OSTI ID:1327774

Jiang, Ping ^[1]; Li, Yanbin ^[2]; Liu, Guangliang ^[1]; Yang, Guidi ^[3]; Lagos, Leonel ^[1]; Yin, Yongguang ^[4]; Gu, Baohua ^[5]; Jiang, Guibin ^[4]; Cai, Yong ^[1]

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1. Florida Intl Univ., Miami, FL (United States)
2. Ocean Univ. of China, Qingdao (China)
3. Fujian Agriculture and Forestry Univ., Fuzhou (China)
4. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China)
5. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Cinnabar dissolution is an important factor controlling mercury (Hg) cycling. Recent studies have suggested the co-occurrence of re-adsorption of the released Hg during the course of cinnabar dissolution. However, there is a lack of feasible techniques that can quantitatively assess the amount of Hg re-adsorbed on cinnabar when investigating cinnabar dissolution. In this study, a new method, based on isotope tracing and dilution techniques, was developed to study the role of Hg re-adsorption in cinnabar dissolution. The developed method includes two key components: (1) accurate measurement of both released and spiked Hg in aqueous phase and (2) estimation of re-adsorbed Hg on cinnabar surface via the reduction in spiked ²⁰²Hg²⁺. By adopting the developed method, it was found that the released Hg for trials purged with oxygen could reach several hundred g L^–1, while no significant cinnabar dissolution was detected under anaerobic condition. Cinnabar dissolution rate when considering Hg re-adsorption was approximately 2 times the value calculated solely with the Hg detected in the aqueous phase. Lastly, these results suggest that ignoring the Hg re-adsorption process can significantly underestimate the importance of cinnabar dissolution, highlighting the necessity of applying the developed method in future cinnabar dissolution studies.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC05-00OR22725; FG01-05EW07033
• OSTI ID: 1327774
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 1325375
• Journal Information: Journal of Hazardous Materials, Vol. 317, Issue C; ISSN 0304-3894
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES
cinnabar dissolution
Hg re-adsorption on cinnabar surface
isotope tracer technique
isotope dilution
redox condition