Quantification of the limitation of Langmuir model used in adsorption research on sediments via site energy heterogeneity.
The Langmuir model has been extensively introduced into the field of environmental adsorption, while some studies showed that it was difficult for the model to describe the adsorption of sediments. The purpose of this paper is to recognize the applicability of the Langmuir model used in the adsorption of contaminants onto sediments quantitatively through the relationship between the error of Langmuir (δ) and site energy heterogeneity (σ). The formula for calculating δ in sediments was developed based on the heterogeneity parameters (m, n). The data was extracted from papers discussing about the adsorption of pollutants on natural sediments. It was further used to investigate the error of Langmuir and the effect on the error from the site energy heterogeneity. The results indicate that the Langmuir model can be applied in sediments when each one of the conditions below is satisfied, (1) m and n lie in the area which signifies that the relative error is less than 10%, (2) the site energy heterogeneity of sediment is under 5.668. These findings are vital for the proper choice of models fitting the adsorption process of sediments.
['Jin|Qiang|Q|', 'Huang|Limin|L|', 'Li|Aimin|A|', 'Shan|Aidang|A|']
D000327:Adsorption D052918:Environmental Restoration and Remediation D019015:Geologic Sediments D008962:Models, Theoretical D013499:Surface Properties D013816:Thermodynamics
Langmuir model Sediment Site energy heterogeneity Energy distribution Error analysis