Influence of Soil–Multiple Contaminant Retention Parameters on Contaminant Fate Prediction

Abstract

Determination of contaminant interaction with soil is essential for predicting its fate in geoenvironments. Several studies have appraised contaminant fate prediction based on the results of single contaminant-soil interaction. Although a few studies deal with multiple contaminant-soil interaction, its influence on contaminant fate prediction is not discussed in detail. Therefore, the present study will investigate the influence of multiple contaminant-soil interaction results about contaminant fate prediction. The influence of different ranges of contaminant concentration on fate prediction has also been studied. Results indicate that contaminant fate prediction based on multiple contaminant-soil interaction is higher than single contaminant interaction. Contaminant fate prediction based on linear isotherms is influenced by the range of concentration for single and multiple contaminants. For a lower range of concentration, contaminant fate prediction based on the Freundlich isotherm is greater than that of Langmuir, and vice versa for higher concentration ranges. Furthermore, the difference in contaminant fate prediction based on Freundlich and Langmuir nonlinear isotherms decreases with an increase in concentration.