title: Measurement of Total Free Iron in Soils by H2S Chemisorption and Comparison with the Citrate Bicarbonate Dithionite Method.
abstract: Free iron is one of the major analytical items for soil basic properties. It is also an important indicator for understanding the genesis of soil, soil classification, and soil distribution behavior. In this study, an alternative analytical method (chemisorption) based on thermodynamic knowledge was proposed for measurement of total free iron oxides in soils. Several representative soil samples belonging to alfisols, ultisols, inceptisols, and entisols were collected from Taiwan and tested by the chemisorption, and the estimated total free iron oxides were compared with those measured from the traditional citrate bicarbonate dithionite (CBD) method. Experimental results showed that the optimal operating temperature was found to be at 773 K and the carbon monoxide (CO) is the best gaseous reagent to promote the formation of FeS. The estimated total free iron oxides for soil samples determined from the chemisorption in the presence of CO were very close to those from the CBD technique. The result of regression indicates that the estimated total free iron is strongly correlated with the CBD-Fe content (R2= 0.999) in the presence of CO.
authors.affiliation: Anxi College of Tea Science, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China.
authors.forename: Shui-Sheng
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.affiliation: Department of Leisure, Recreation and Tourism Management, Tzu Hui Institute of Technology, Pingtung 926, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Feng-Hsiang
authors.initials: FH
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Sustainable Environment Research Laboratories, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 701, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Hsin-Ta
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-2689-2820
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Hsueh
authors.affiliation: Anxi College of Tea Science, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China; Fujian Provincial Technology Development Base of Tea Industry, Anxi 362406, China.
authors.forename: Tzu-Hsing
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-8824-6739
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Ko