Ka. Hunter et al., AGGREGATION OF IRON COLLOIDS IN ESTUARIES - A HETEROGENEOUS KINETICS STUDY USING CONTINUOUS MIXING OF RIVER AND SEA WATERS, Colloids and surfaces. A, Physicochemical and engineering aspects, 120(1-3), 1997, pp. 111-121
The kinetics of iron colloid aggregation in estuaries have been simula
ted with a model estuary in which seawater is continuously pumped into
a reservoir initially containing river water. Profiles of colloidal F
e concentration versus salinity produced in this apparatus closely res
embled field data for actual estuaries. Synthetic Fe colloids prepared
by peptising Fe(OH)(3) with humic acid and phosphate showed very simi
lar kinetic behaviour. Aggregation rate was found to be almost indepen
dent of velocity shear rate, implying that most aggregations are induc
ed by brownian interparticle collisions. A heterogeneous kinetic model
is proposed to explain the kinetic behaviour of Fe colloids during se
awater-induced aggregation, This model describes kinetic behaviour in
terms of a log-normal distribution of rate constants characterised by
a mean value [k] and a standard deviation gamma. Experiments showed th
at [k] is linearly related to the rare constant for salinity increase
during mixing. This coupling of salinity changes and aggregation rate
leads to Fe-salinity profiles that are nearly independent of the rate
of salinity change, but which are dependent on gamma.