EVT 533

EXPERIMENT : CATION EXCHAGE CAPACITY

NAME

STUDENT ID

GROUP

LECTURE NAME

DATE OF EXPERIMENT

DATE OF SUBMISSION
OBJECTIVES

1. To determine CEC of two different type soil.

2. To compare the CEC of the two different types of soil.

INTRODUCTION

Cation exchange capacity (CEC) has a significant influence on the physical and chemical behavior
of soil. Soils containing clay minerals possess negatively charged particle surfaces that hold
exchangeable cations (Morteza et. al , 2017). The amount of exchangeable cations a soil possesses
is referred to as the cation exchange capacity (CEC). Soil particles (primarily clay and humus
particles) have negative and positive surface charges. Since the cation exchange complex is a
storehouse of plant nutrients, the greater the CEC, the more exchangeable nutrients a soil holds.
At a given pH, the CEC of a soil depends on the separate CECs of different colloidal substances
and how much of each is present. The CEC of a soil is satisfied when negative charge is balanced
by adsorption of many different types of cations.

In principle, all one has to do to measure the CEC of a soil is to add a sufficiently high
concentration of a foreign (one other than commonly found in soil) cation and essentially all
initially adsorbed cations will be forced into solution by exchange with the added cation. Next,
the foreign cation that saturates the soil is forced into solution by another cation. The foreign cation
is measured to determine the CEC.

In this experiment, The method use is determines the CEC at pH 7 which makes to compare
materials on the standard bases. A soil’s ability to react with positively charged molecules is called
it’s cation exchange capacity (CEC). The higher the CEC, the higher the negative charge of the
soil and the more cations that can be held (Walt, 2014).
PROCEDURES

1. The soil sample was air dried and pulverized with an agate mortar to pass a 200µm (80 mesh)
sieve.
2. 4.000 g was weighed for medium to fine textured soil and 6.000 g for coarse textured soil air
dried soil into a 40 mL centrifuge tube and 33 mL of 1N sodium acetate trihydrate solution
was added. Used a stopper tube and shake for 5 minutes.
3. The stopper was removed and centrifuge at 3000 rpm about 5 minutes and until supernatant
liquid cleared. Decant the supernatant as possible and discard.
4. Step 3 was repeated with 33 mL portions 1 N sodium acetate trihydrate solution by four times
and discarding the supernatant liquid each times.
5. Then, 33 mL 95% ethanol was added and shake for 5 minutes by using a stopper tube. Next
centrifuge until the supernatant cleared and decant.
6. The sample was washed with 33 mL 95% ethanol three times and discarding the supernatanat
liquid each time. After three times washed, check the electrical conductivity and should be less
than 400 µS/cm.
7. The adsorbed sodium (Na+) was replaced from the sample extraction with 33 mL portion 1 N
ammonium acetate solution three times. Ecah times was shaked for 5 minutes and centrifuge
until the supernatant liquid cleared.
8. The three supernatant liquids was decant as possible into 100 mL volumetric flask and 1N
ammonium acetate solution volume was bring and mixed well.
9. The flame photometer was ran for a series of suitable Na standards. The data was recorded in
table 4.3a and calibration curve was drew.
10. The sample which soil extract was measured and the emission reading was takes by a flame
photometer at 767 nm wavelength. Sodium (Na) concentration was calculated according to the
calibration curve and the data was recorded in table 4.3b.
RESULTS

Table 4.3a : Concentration of Standard Na Solution (mg/L) and Photometer Reading

Concentration of Na Standard Solution Reading From the Photometer

(ppm or mg/L)
20 20.00
40 40.00
60 60.00
80 80.00
100 100.00
150 150.00
200

Table 4.3b : Soil Weight (g), Total Volume of Extract (mL), Concentration of Sodium
([Na])(mg/L or mEq/ L Na) and Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC) of Soil Samples
(mEq/100g soil)

Soil 1 Soil 2

Parameters 1 2 1 2
R1 R2 Average B1 B2 Average
Weight of air-dried soil samples 6.0086 6.0098 6.0092 4.0033 4.0024 4.0029
(g)
Total volume of soil extract (mL) 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

[Na] (mg/L) 97.39 107.00 102.20 213.10 243.20 228.15

[Na] (mEq/L Na) 4.2343 4.6522 4.4433 9.2652 10.5739 9.9196

CEC (mEq/100 g soil) 7.0471 7.7410 7.3941 23.1439 26.4189 24.7814

CALIBRATION CURVE

Concentration of Na Standard Solution (mg/L)

Photometer Reading (mg/L)
160
READING FROM THE PHOTOMETER

y = 24.286x - 10
140

120

100

80

60

40

20

0
20 40 60 80 100 150
CONCENTRATION OF NA STANDARD SOLUTION (PPM OR MG/L)

Concentration of Na Standard Solution (ppm or mg/L)

Linear (Concentration of Na Standard Solution (ppm or mg/L))
CALCULATION

[Na] (mEq/L Na) = (mg/L) x valence

mol weight
SOIL 1 SOIL 2
R1 𝟗𝟕.𝟑𝟗 𝐱 𝟏 B1 𝟐𝟏𝟑.𝟏𝟎 𝐱 𝟏
= =
𝟐𝟑 𝟐𝟑
= 4.2343 = 9.2652
R2 𝟏𝟎𝟕.𝟎 𝐱 𝟏 B2 𝟐𝟒𝟑.𝟐𝟎 𝐱 𝟏
= =
𝟐𝟑 𝟐𝟑

= 4.6522 = 10.5739
Average 𝟒.𝟐𝟑𝟒𝟑+ 𝟒.𝟔𝟓𝟐𝟐 Average 𝟗.𝟐𝟔𝟓𝟐+ 𝟏𝟎.𝟓𝟕𝟑𝟗
= =
𝟐 𝟐

= 4.4433 = 9.9196

𝐦𝐄𝐪 𝑨 𝟏𝟎𝟎
CEC (mEq/100 g soil)= 𝑵𝒂 x 𝑾𝒕 x 𝟏𝟎𝟎𝟎
𝐋
SOIL 1 SOIL 2
R1 𝟏𝟎𝟎 𝟏𝟎𝟎 B1 𝟏𝟎𝟎 𝟏𝟎𝟎
= 4.2343 x x = 9.2652 x x
𝟔.𝟎𝟎𝟖𝟔 𝟏𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝟒.𝟎𝟎𝟑𝟑 𝟏𝟎𝟎𝟎
= 7.0471 = 23.1439
R2 𝟏𝟎𝟎 𝟏𝟎𝟎 B2 𝟏𝟎𝟎 𝟏𝟎𝟎
= 4.6522 x x = 10.5739 x x
𝟔.𝟎𝟎𝟗𝟖 𝟏𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝟒.𝟎𝟎𝟐𝟒 𝟏𝟎𝟎𝟎
= 7.7410 = 23.4189
Average 𝟕.𝟎𝟒𝟕𝟏+ 𝟕.𝟕𝟒𝟏𝟎 Average 𝟐𝟑.𝟏𝟒𝟑𝟗+ 𝟐𝟑.𝟒𝟏𝟖𝟗
= =
𝟐 𝟐
= 7.3941 = 24.7814
DISCUSSION

In this experiment, two sample of soil was analyzed to calculated value that was an estimate of the
soils ability to attract, retain, and exchange cation elements by cation exchange capacity (CEC).
CEC was expressed as milliequivalents (meq) of charge (number of charges) per 100 grams of soil
(meq/100 g or as cmol/kg when using International Scientific Units). Leticia (2014) conclude that
the number of milliequivalents was used rather than a weight (pounds, grams, etc.) of adsorbed
cations because CEC represents the total number of charges, which was a better standard of
comparison of different soils because each cation species has a different weight and soils differ in
the proportions of the different cation species. Some of the cations found in soil are called acidic
cations. This is because these are either actually H+ or react with water to produce H+. Al3+ is a
prime example of the latter [Al3+ + H2O → Al(OH) 2+ + H+ ]. All others are basic cations. Ca2+,
Mg2+, K+ and Na+ are the most common basic cations in soil. The cation exchange capacity of a
soil measures the surface electric charge of soil components (Chisielski and Sterckemann , 1997).
Both CEC and specific surface of the soil were used as a predicting criteria tool to evaluate the
properties of the soil components. Cation exchange capacity and base saturation determined from
neutral NH4OOCH3 can be estimated from routine soil test results to assess soil fertility.

From the result obtained in this experiment, it showed that the CEC of soil sample 1 which red soil
was 7.3941 and soil sample 2 (black soil) was 24.7814. It showed that black soil had higher CEC
value that red soil.

The agrosource laboratory (2017) issued that the CEC of soil directly affects the amount of
fertilizer and the frequency with which fertilizer should be applied.Fertilization and liming
practices can be affected by soil’s CEC was a significance of CEC.For example, soils with high
CEC retain more nutrients than low-CEC soils (Leticia et. al , 2014). In this experiment, soil 2
showed high CEC that soil 1. This is because soil 2 was a fine type of soil which black soil. Black
soil had a greater amount of organic matter so it had a lot of nutrients.

Crop production releases acidity into soil. Leticia et. al, (2014) said that soil pH will decrease more
due to crop production on low CEC soils. High CEC soils are generally well buffered such that pH
changes much less from crop production. Therefore, red soils low in CEC need to be limed more
frequently but at lower rates of application than black soils. Higher lime rates were needed to reach
an optimum pH on high CEC soils due to their greater abundance of acidic cations at a given pH.
Soil pH can changes the CEC because the soil has exchange sites that become active as the pH
increases. Soil CEC could be expected to increase up to 50 percent if the pH was changed from
4.0 to 6.5 and nearly double if the pH increased from 4.0 to 8.0 (www.agrosourcelaboratories.com
, 2017).

The estimated CEC is a summation of bases obtained from an extraction used to assess nutrient
levels plus an estimate of acidity from a soil-buffer pH measurement. The acidity determined from
soil-buffer pH is an estimate of the acidity neutralized when soil pH is raised to 7. This acidity
includes exchangeable acidity, as Al3+, and residual acidity, as H+ released from hydroxyl and
carboxyl groups on soil solids. Therefore, the calculated CEC methods reported below provide an
estimate for CEC determined with neutral NH4OOCH3The effective CEC is a measure of soil’s
negatively charged sites adsorbing exchangeable cations at the native pH of the soil and is lower
than CEC using neutral NH4OOCH3.

The organic matter in soil had a negative charged while minerals had positive charged. The ratio
of silica to alumina sheets in a crystal of kaolinite was 1:1 while in crystal of montmorillonite was
2:1. Cation Exchange Capacity was important to soil fertility because it affects the soil fertility
and plat nutrition because of its influence on nutrient holding capacity and leaching potential. Next,
to remediate waste effluent of soil capacity and to determine the soil properties like soil shrinkage,
swelling and cohesiveness. So, factor that determined the soil CEC content were namely of soil
texture or more specifically clay content, clay type, organic matter content and soil pH.

In this experiment also used a chemical reagent, so it must wear a glove during this experiment.
The chemicals used in this procedure should be stored and disposed of according to routine
laboratory procedures. Next, preparation of the NH4OOCH3 solution in a fume hood to avoid
breathing ammonia and acetic acid vapors. Lastly,the apparatus that used in this experiment must
be calibrated first to avoided any systematic error.
CONCLUSION

The CEC of two soil samples were determined by using the method of determines the CEC at pH
7 which makes to compare materials on the standard bases. Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC) of
black soil have higher value of CEC that red soil which is 24.7814 and 7.3941.

REFERENCES

Agrosource Laboratory. (2017). Soil Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC). Retrieved from

www.agsourcelaboratories.com

Ciesielski, H. and Sterckemann, T. (1997): Determination of exchange capacity and exchangeable

cations in soils by means of cobalt hexamine trichloride. Effects of experimental

conditions, Agronomie, 17, 1-7

Leticia, S., S., David, E., K., and Uttam, S. (2017). Cation Exchange Capacity and Base

Saturation. Retrived from

https://secure.caes.uga.edu/extension/publications/files/pdf/C%201040_1.PDF

Morteza, K., Aff.M.ASCE1 and Ning Lu, F.ASCE. (2017). Determination of Cation Exchange

Capacity from Soil Water Retention Curve. Journal of of Engineering Mechanics. DOI :

10.1061/(ASCE)EM.1943-7889.0001220

Walt, B. (2014). Cation Exchange Capacity: What is it and why is it important?. Retrieved from
https://waltsorganic.com/cation-exchange-what-is-it-and-why-is-it-important/