Selenate (SeO4(2-)) is an oxyanion of environmental importance because of its toxicity to animals and its mobility in the soil environment. It is known that iron(III) oxides and hydroxides are important sorbents for SeO4(2-) in soils and sediments, but the mechanism of selenate adsorption on iron oxides has been the subject of intense debate. Our research employed Extended X-ray absorption fine structure and attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopies to determine SeO4(2-) bonding mechanisms on hematite, goethite, and hydrous ferric oxide (HFO). It was learned that selenate forms only inner-sphere surface complexes on hematite but forms a mixture of outer- and inner-sphere surface complexes on goethite and HFO. This continuum of adsorption mechanisms is strongly affected by both pH and ionic strength. These results suggest that adsorption experiments should be conducted on several different iron oxides and over a wide range of reaction conditions to accurately assess the reactivity of oxyanions on iron oxides.

While alum amendments have shown to be effective in lowering water-soluble phosphate levels in poultry litter, the mechanism by which this occurs is not fully known. To determine the solid-state speciation of phosphate in litter samples, experiments were conducted with X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy. XANES analysis reveals that, in unamended samples, phosphate is present as weakly bound inorganic as well as some organic phosphate, with some dicalcium phosphate-type calcium phosphates also present. When alum is applied in the houses, XANES results suggest that it precipitates out as amorphous Al(OH)3 and then reacts with phosphate via an adsorption mechanism. No evidence was found of aluminum phosphate precipitation in any samples.