Hostname: page-component-669899f699-vbsjw Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-28T12:52:23.241Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Multi-method characterization of the ferrihydrite to goethite transformation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2018

G. Houben  and
S. Kaufhold
G. Houben
Affiliation:
Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR), Stilleweg 2, 30655 Hannover, Germany
S. Kaufhold
Affiliation:
Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR), Stilleweg 2, 30655 Hannover, Germany
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The reactivity of soils and sediments is often described by parameters such as the specific surface area (SSA) and the cation exchange capacity (CEC). Both, however, are bulk values controlled by the presence and crystallinity of different phases, e.g. clay minerals and iron oxides. Amongst the latter, ferrihydrite and goethite are the most abundant minerals. Goethite gradually forms from a ferrihydrite precursor, a process involving a decrease in surface area. Today the BET gas adsorption technique is the most common method to measure SSA. In this study, BET surface areas of synthetic and natural ferrihydrite and goethite of variable crystallinity were compared to (a) mineral-specific measurements, including infrared analysis (IR), differential thermal analysis (DTA), and (b) bulk methods, such as cation exchange capacity and oxalate-soluble iron. Correlations showed that the SSA can be indirectly inferred from all methods. There is no general correlation between IR and BET measurements due to the variability of adsorbed water, which depends on drying and ambient conditions. DTA, particularly using the dehydroxylation peak at 300°C, allows quantification of the goethite content, and hence the SSA, because adsorbed water does not affect this peak. The data set of the present study enabled us to estimate either SSA and/or the content of iron oxides, even in natural mixtures, e.g. those in which smectites determine the SSA.

Keywords

ferrihydritegoethitetransformationsoil reactivity
Type
Research Article
Information
Clay Minerals , Volume 46 , Issue 3 , September 2011 , pp. 387 - 395
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Brunauer, S., Emmett, P.H. & Teller, E. (1938) Adsorption of gases in multimolecular layers. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 60, 309–319.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Combes, J.M., Manceau, A., Calas, G. & Bottero, J.Y. (1989) Formation of ferric oxides from aqueous solutions: A polyhedral approach by X-ray absorption spectroscopy. I. Hydrolysis and formation of ferric gels. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Ada, 53, 583–594.Google Scholar
Cornell, R.M. & Schwertmann, U. (2003) The Iron Oxides—Structure, Properties, Reactions, Occurrence and Uses. Wiley-VCH, Weinheim/New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farmer, V.C. (1974) The Infrared Spectra of Minerals. Mineralogical Society Monograph, 4, 539 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fischer, W.R. & Schwertmann, U. (1975) The formation of hematite from amorphous iron(III) hydroxide. Clays and Clay Minerals, 23, 33–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamzaoui, A., Mgaidi, A., Megriche, A. & El Maaoui, M. (2002) Kinetic study of goethite formation from ferrihydrite in alkaline medium. Industrial & Engineering Chemical Research, 41, 5226–5231.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoste, S., Verdonk, L. & van der Kelen, G.P. (1982) IR study on the solid state reaction between iron hydroxide and KCN. Bulletin des Societes Chimiques Beiges, 91, 597–604.Google Scholar
Houben, G. (2003) Iron oxide incrustations in wells—Part 1: Genesis, mineralogy and geochemistry. Applied Geochemistry, 18, 927–939.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Houben, G. & Kaufhold, S. (2001) Estimating the surface area of iron oxihydroxides from infrared (IR) spectrometry data. Beihefte European Journal of Mineralogy, 13, 86.Google Scholar
Johnston, J.H. & Lewis, D.G. (1983) A detailed study of the transformation of ferrihydrite to hematite in an aqueous medium at 92°C. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Ada, 47, 1823–1831.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karathanasis, A.D. (2008) Thermal analysis of soil minerals. Pp. 117–160 in: Methods of Soil Analysis, Part 5 - Mineralogical Method. (A.L. Ulery & L.R. Drees, editors), Soil Science Society of America, Madison, Wisconsin.Google Scholar
McKenzie, R.M. (1980) The adsorption of lead and other heavy metals on oxides of manganese and iron. Australian Journal of Soil Research, 18, 61–73.Google Scholar
Mehra, O.P. & Jackson MX. (1960) Iron oxide removal from soils and clays by a dithionite-citrate system buffered with sodium bicarbonate. Clays and Clay Minerals, 5, 317–327.Google Scholar
Meier, L.P. & Kahr, G. (1999) Determination of the cation exchange capacity (CEC) of clay minerals using the complexes of Copper (II) ion with Triethylenetetramine and Tretraethylenepentamine. Clays and Clay Minerals, 47, 386–388.Google Scholar
Murad, E. & Rojik, P. (2005) Iron mineralogy of minedrainage precipitates as environmental indicators: review of current concepts and a case study from the Sokolov basin, Czech Republic. Clay Minerals, 40, 427–440.Google Scholar
Nagano, T., Nakashima, S., Nakayama, S., Osada, K. & Senoo, M. (1992) Color variations associated with rapid formation of goethite from proto-ferrihydrite at pH 13 and 40°C. Clays and Clay Minerals, 40, 600–607.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Norlund-Christensen, A., Convert, P. & Lehman, M.S. (1980) Hydrothermal crystal growth rate of goethite and hematite from amorphous iron(III) hydroxide investigated by X-ray diffraction and neutron scattering. Ada Chemica Scandinavica, A34, 771–776.Google Scholar
Okamoto, S., Serizawa, H. & Okamoto, S.I. (1972) Characterization and phase transformation of amorphous ferric hydroxide. Pp. 341–349 in: Proceedings of the 7th Symposium on the Reactivity of Solid. (J.S. Anderson, M.W. Roberts & F.S. Stone, editors), Chapman & Hall, London.Google Scholar
Schwertmann, U. (1964) Differenzierung der Eisenoxide des Bodens durch Extraktion mit Ammoniumoxalat- Losung. Zeitschrift fur Pflanzenernahrung, Diingung und Bodenkunde, 105, 194–202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwertmann, U. (1973) Use of oxalate for Fe extraction from soils. Canadian Journal of Soil Science, 53, 244–246.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwertmann, U. & Cornell, R.M. (2000) Iron Oxides in the Laboratory. 2nd edition. Wiley-VCH, Weinheim/ New York.Google Scholar
Schwertmann, U. & Fischer, W.R. (1966) Zur Bildung von a-FeOOH und a-Fe2O3 aus amorphem Eisen(III)-hydroxid. Zeitschrift fur anorganische und allgemeine Chemie, 346, 137–142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stanjek, H. & Weidler, P.G. (1992) The effect of dry heating on the chemistry, surface area, and oxalate solubility of synthetic 2-line and 6-line ferrihydrites. Clay Minerals, 27, 397–412.Google Scholar
Vempati, R.K. & Loeppert, R.H. (1989) Influence of structural and adsorbed Si on the transformation of synthetic ferrihydrite. Clays and Clay Minerals, 37, 273–279.Google Scholar