Radiochemical study of Co2+ sorption on chlorite and kaolinite

In this work, the sorption behavior of Co(II) ions on natural chlorite and kaolinite as a function of time, concentration and temperature was studied. 60Co radiotracer method and the batch technique were used. The kinetic results indicated that about one day of contact time was enough to achieve equilibrium. The sorption process was described by Freundlich type isotherms. Sorption of Co(II) ions on both clays was found to be endothermic with ΔH(o) (kJ/mol) and ΔS(o) (kJ/mol·K) being 33 and 0.14 for kaolinite and 17 and 0.102 for chlorite, respectively. The magnitudes of the corresponding ΔG(o) values suggest that sorption occur mainly via an ion exchange mechanism on both clays.