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 the presence of soil organic matter, which leads to clay aggregation, new treatment using an anionic surfactant, tested on an organic matter-rich soil sample from Vosges (France), simultaneously removes part of the 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 much more of the organic matter than the surfactant treatment, and the use of organic solvents is very inefficient in removing soil organic matter, In order to verify the surfactant treatment on all kinds of organic matter-rich soils, an adapted laboratory procedure is given.