Effect of aqueous Fe(II) on Sb(V) sorption on soil and goethite Jian-Xin Fan a, b , Yu-Jun Wang a, * , Ting-Ting Fan a , Fei Dang a , Dong-Mei Zhou a, ** a Key Laboratory of Soil Environment and Pollution Remediation, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China b Key Laboratory of Hydraulic and Waterway Engineering of the Ministry of Education, Chongqing Jiaotong University, Chongqing 400074, China highlights graphical abstract  Sorption capacity of Sb on reduced soil was much higher than that on oxic soil.  Aqueous Fe(II) can enhance the sorption capacity of Sb on soil and goethite.  XPS were used to gain speciation of Sb and Fe in soil and goethite. article info Article history: Received 9 June 2015 Received in revised form 4 December 2015 Accepted 22 December 2015 Available online xxx Handling Editor: X. Cao Keywords: Sb Fe(II) Goethite Soil Sorption abstract The effects of Fe(II) on the sorption and precipitation of Sb(V) on soils and goethite were investigated using batch experiments and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) in this study. The sorption capacity of Sb(V) were much higher in anoxic soil than oxic soil. Typically, dissolved Fe(II) concentration in anoxic soils decreased significantly with increasing Sb(V), which may be suggestive of FeeSb precipitation. The elevated concentrations of Fe(II) (1 mM) enhanced the sorption capacity of Sb(V) on goethite signifi- cantly. However, synchrotron radiation X-ray diffraction showed no new characteristic peak, indicating that this FeeSb precipitate might be poor crystallinity or amorphous. Moreover, Sb(III) was detected in anoxic soil, and the reduction of Sb(V) to Sb (III) improved the sorption capacity of Sb in anoxic soil because of the low solubility and migration of Sb(III). Nevertheless, FeeSb co-precipitation and Sb(V) reduction to Sb(III) might contribute simultaneously to the increased sorption capacity of Sb(V) on anoxic soils. This research could improve our current understanding of soil Sb chemistry in paddy and wetland soils. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Antimony (Sb) is widely used as alloys and chemical compounds in industrial products, such as flame retardants and catalysts in the synthesis of plastics, and alloys for ammunition (Filella et al., 2002a). The massive smelting and utilization of Sb caused elevated Sb concentrations into soils and waters, especially around mining district, smelter, areas and shooting area (Wilson et al., 2004; Reimann et al., 2010; Scheinost et al., 2006; Cidu et al., 2014). Sb and its compounds are listed as priority pollutants by the US EPA and the EU due to its toxicity and its suspected carci- nogenic properties for humans (Gebel, 1997). Sb exists as a variety of valence states (-III, 0, III, V), yet the oxidation states are the most common inorganic species in the * Corresponding author. ** Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: yjwang@issas.ac.cn (Y.-J. Wang), dmzhou@issas.ac.cn (D.-M. Zhou). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Chemosphere journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/chemosphere http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2015.12.078 0045-6535/© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Chemosphere 147 (2016) 44e51