THE USE OF SURFACTANT FOR CLAY DISPERSION IN ORGANIC MATTER-RICH SOIL- PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION

The extraction and dispersion of clays from soils is often hampered th e presence of soil organic matter, which leads to clay aggregation, ne w treatment using an anionic surfactant, tested on an organic matter-r ich soil sample from Vosges (France), simultaneously removes part of t he organic matter and stabilizes the clay dispersions. This treatment has only a limited impact on the clay structure, Comparison with other alternatives shows that standard H2O2 treatment does not eliminate mu ch more of the organic matter than the surfactant treatment, and the u se of organic solvents is very inefficient in removing soil organic ma tter, In order to verify the surfactant treatment on all kinds of orga nic matter-rich soils, an adapted laboratory procedure is given.