Experimental Study of Fluorine Transport Rules in Unsaturated Stratified Soil

With the aid of soil column test models, the transport rules of fluorine contaminants in unsaturated stratified soils are discussed. Curves of F- concentrations at different times and sites in the unsaturated stratified soil were obtained under conditions of continuous injection of fluoride contaminants and water. Based on the analysis of the actual observation data, the values between computed results and observed data were compared. It is shown that the chemical properties of fluorine ions are active. The migration process of fluorine ions in soils is complex. Because of the effect of adsorption and desorption, the curve of the fluorine ion breakthrough curve is not symmetric. Its concentration peak value at each measuring point gradually decays. The tail of the breakthrough curve is long and the process of leaching and purifying using water requires considerable time. Along with the release of OH- in the process of fluorine absorption, the pH value of the soil solution changed from neutral to alkalinity during the test process. The first part of the breakthrough curve fitted better than the second part. The main reason is that fluorine does not always exist in the form of fluorinions in groundwater. Given the long test time, fluorinions possibly react with other ions in the soil solution to form complex water-soluble fluorine compounds. Only the retardation factor and source-sink term have been considered in our numerical model, which may leads to errors of computed values. But as a whole the migration rules of fluorine ions are basically correct, which indicates that the established numerical model can be used to simulate the transport rules of fluorine contaminants in unsaturated stratified soils. © 2007 The Journal of China University of Mining & Technology.