Sorption isotherms: A review on physical bases, modeling and measurement

The retention (or release) of a liquid compound on a solid controls the mobility of many substances in the environment and has been quantified in terms of the “sorption isotherm”. This paper does not review the different sorption mechanisms. It presents the physical bases underlying the definition of a sorption isotherm, different empirical or mechanistic models, and details several experimental methods to acquire a sorption isotherm. For appropriate measurements and interpretations of isotherm data, this review emphasizes 4 main points: (i) the adsorption (or desorption) isotherm does not provide automatically any information about the reactions involved in the sorption phenomenon. So, mechanistic interpretations must be carefully verified. (ii) Among studies, the range of reaction times is extremely wide and this can lead to misinterpretations regarding the irreversibility of the reaction: a pseudo-hysteresis of the release compared with the retention is often observed. The comparison between the mean characteristic time of the reaction and the mean residence time of the mobile phase in the natural system allows knowing if the studied retention/release phenomenon should be considered as an instantaneous reversible, almost irreversible phenomenon, or if reaction kinetics must be taken into account. (iii) When the concentration of the retained substance is low enough, the composition of the bulk solution remains constant and a single-species isotherm is often sufficient, although it remains strongly dependent on the background medium. At higher concentrations, sorption may be driven by the competition between several species that affect the composition of the bulk solution. (iv) The measurement method has a great influence. Particularly, the background ionic medium, the solid/solution ratio and the use of flow-through or closed reactor are of major importance. The chosen method should balance easy-to-use features and representativity of the studied natural conditions.