Abstract

In the frame of the project Quality objectives and risks, partition coefficients (Kp's) were derived for the partitioning in soils and sediments of: Ba, Be, Co, Mo, Se, Tl, Sb, Sn and V. For that purpose a literature review with respect to adsorption experiments with soils and sediments was carried out. Selected Kp's for soils are presented. Experimental data for Ba, Be and Sn were not available. Partitioning of these metals in soils was assumed to be comparable with Ca, Mg and Pb respectively. For sediments no studies were found where adsorption was tested in batch experiments. Therefore, Kp's for sediments were derived from measurements of the metal content of riverine particulate matter. These Kp's were much higher than the soil Kp's. The difference are attributed to differing characteristics of the sorbent, the effect of the unexchangeably bound metal content on the Kp and to different physical-chemical conditions for adsorption like the pH, the particle concentration and the aqueous metal concentration.