Interaction of Nano-Clays and Cu Contaminant in Geo-Environmental Projects

The main objective to study the materials in nano scale is establishing the new classification of materials and their new function which may introduce a noticeable application for them. Even though there have been several researches on the process of soil-contaminant interactions, the process of heavy metal contaminant and nano-clays have not been investigated yet. On the other hand, contamination of soils with Cu ions is very common in geo-environmental projects. The main objective of this research is to investigate the interaction process of Cu contaminant with nano-clays before and after treatment with carbonate. To achieve this objective, series of geo environmental experiments were performed. These experiments included, batch equilibrium testing, buffering and pH measurements. The achieved results indicate that the main part of buffering capacity and contaminant retention of soil are due to the presence of carbonate in soils. According to the achieved results in betonies, kaolinite, and four nano-clay samples the contaminant retention of soils is as follows: Betonies > Cloisite®Na+ > Kaolinite > Cloisite®30B > Cloisite®20A > Cloisite®15A. Furthermore, with increasing of carbonate content there will be a change on the order of ability of samples for contaminant retention. For soil samples with 8% carbonate, the Cu retention of samples will be according to the following order:Cloisite®Na+ > Cloisite®15A ≥ Cloisite®20A > Cloisite®30B > Bentonite