TECHNICAL NOTE Sustainable Use of Locally Available Red Earth and Black Cotton Soils in Retaining Cd 2+ and Ni 2+ from Aqueous Solutions Syed Abu Sayeed Mohammed 1 • P. F. Sanaulla 2 • Arif Ali Baig Moghal 3 Received: 2 February 2016 / Revised: 10 May 2016 / Accepted: 30 May 2016 / Published online: 14 July 2016 Ó Iran University of Science and Technology 2016 Abstract The relative performance of two soils as a sus- tainable material to attenuate the transport of heavy metal ions, cadmium (Cd 2? ) and nickel (Ni 2? ), from aqueous solutions has been evaluated. Red earth soil (RS) and black cotton soil (BCS) originating from India, were selected, and batch equilibrium tests including sorption kinetics and leaching studies were conducted. Langmuir isotherm was found to be more suitable than Freundlich isotherm for both the soils. Kinetic data were fitted on four models namely pseudo first order, pseudo second order, Elovich and intraparticle diffusion. Correlation coefficients obtained by all models fitted well in the following rank- ing: Elovich [ Intraparticle diffusion [ pseudo second order [ pseudo first order. Based on extensive experi- mental data, it is concluded that the ranking on sorption was of the order Cd [ Ni for both the soils, and BCS exhibited relatively higher retention levels compared to RS. It is further concluded that BCS can be used as a substitute to filter material, RS a substitute to main liner material in attenuating Cd 2? and Ni 2? from an industrial landfill leachate. Keywords Sorption Á Clay Á Cadmium Á Nickel Á Langmuir isotherm Á Elovich model 1 Introduction There is huge environmental exodus these days as increasingly more lands are getting contaminated. Poor implementation of environmental protocols has resulted in uninhabitable sites. Contaminated sites are also being used for human settlements resulting in humans getting exposed to harmful chemicals. Soils being a major media for direct contact are known to retain heavy metals through a number of processes, viz., sorption, ion exchange, precipitation, complexation, diffusion, etc. The properties of soils have to be studied so that a sustainable remediation method can be devised to make these contaminated sites safe for human habitation. Most of the naturally available soils can be used as liner materials to retain heavy metals which will entrap the contaminants in their soil matrices and make them inert. In this study, two heavy metals, cadmium (Cd 2? ) and nickel (Ni 2? ) and their interaction with two soils have been considered [1, 2]. Cadmium occurs in the Earth’s crust at an abundance of 0.1–0.5 ppm and is commonly associated with zinc, lead, and copper ores. Cadmium is refined and consumed for use in batteries (83 %), pigments (8 %), coatings and plating (7 %), stabilizers for plastics (1.2 %), and nonferrous alloys, photovoltaic devices, and others (0.8 %). The main sources of cadmium that reach the soil include atmospheric deposition and direct application methods, such as phos- phate fertilizer use (up to 300 mg Cd/kg) and sewage sludge disposal. Upon intake, cadmium gets easily stored in kidneys, liver and other tissues during both occupational and general exposure. This accumulation, in turn, may & Arif Ali Baig Moghal abaig@KSU.EDU.SA; reach2arif@gmail.com Syed Abu Sayeed Mohammed abubms@gmail.com P. F. Sanaulla sanahkbk@gmail.com 1 Department of Civil Engineering, HKBK College of Engineering, Bangalore 560045, India 2 Department of Chemistry, HKBK College of Engineering, Bangalore 560045, India 3 Bugshan Research Chair in Expansive Soils, Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, King Saud University, 800, Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia 123 Int J Civ Eng (2016) 14:491–505 DOI 10.1007/s40999-016-0052-z