Determination of diffusion and sorption parameters of thin confined clay layers by direct fitting of through-diffusion flux

Abstract: Diffusion in compacted clays is often studied in sandwich-like arrangements where the clay is confined by porous filter plates in order to control its swelling. In some clays (for example, Na-montmorillonite) equilibrated with dilute electrolyte solutions, the fluxes of cationic radiotracers can be quite high due to cation-exchange reactions. Accordingly, the diffusion resistance of clay layers can become comparable with or even smaller than the diffusion resistance of porous filters (such layers are called “thin” in this study). In view of the typical uncertainties (ca. 20%) of diffusion permeability of porous filters reported in the literature, the diffusion resistance of clay layers cannot be reliably determined from the steady-state diffusion permeability of the filter–clay–filter “sandwich” in this case. In this study, it is shown that, rather unexpectedly, information on the diffusion permeability of “thin” clay layers can be obtained from the time dependence of diffusant flux into the outlet compartment because at very short times, there is a characteristic flux delay that does not occur in the limiting case of infinitely large diffusion permeability of clay. The flux behavior at longer times is controlled by the diffusion permeability of the filters, which makes possible its determination directly from through-diffusion data and makes superfluous independent diffusion experiments with filters. This approach has been validated via theoretical interpretation of literature data on the diffusion of 22Na radiotracers through confined compacted montmorillonite equilibrated with 0.01M NaClO4 solution. The filter and clay properties estimated in this way are in good agreement with the literature data. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]