Modeling the rate-controlled sorption of hexavalent chromium

Sorption of chromium VI on the iron-oxide- and hydroxide-coated surface of alluvial material was numerically simulated with rate-controlled reactions. Reaction kinetics and diffusional processes, in the form of film, pore, and particle diffusion, were simulated and compared with experimental results. The use of empirically calculated rate coefficients for diffusion through the reacting surface was found to simulate experimental data; pore or particle diffusion is believed to be a possible rate-controlling mechanism. The use of rate equations to predict conservative transport and rate- and local-equilibrium-controlled reactions was shown to be feasible.