J. Indian Chern. Soc., Vol. 77, .July 2000, pp. 326-328 Effect of some organic compounds on the mobility of some trace metals through soil amended with fly ash Samiullah Khana, Jamal A. Khanb, R. K. Bhardwat and Shagufta Jabina"' aDepartment of Applied Chemistry, Z. H. College of Engineering & Technology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh-202 002, India bDepartment of Chemistry, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh-202 002, India Manuscrrpt rean·ed R June 1999, 1evned 21 February 2000, auepted 3 Manh 2000 The etl'ects of some organic compounds, viz. formic acid, acetic acid, methanol, ethanol, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, acetone and ethyl methyl ketone on the mobility of some trace metals, viz. Co, Zn, Cu, Ag and Pb through soil amended ''ith fly ash have been in an alkaline fine sandy loam soil of Aligarh district (U.P.). The results indicate in the mobility of trace metals with increasing dosage of fly ash in soil but with a variation in intensity by use of organic compound as a mobile phase. The mobility order is Co > Zn > Cu > Ag > Pb in case of organic acids and alcohols, and Co > Cu > Zn > Ag > Ph for aldehydes and ketones. The effect of organic chemicals on the translocation of metals follows the sequence : formic acid > acetic acid > methanol > acetone > formaldehyde > ethyl methyl ketone > acetaldehyde > ethanol. Various synthetic, volatile and non-volatile organic chemi- cals are released in the environment from the industries and chemical laboratories in appreciable quantities. It has also been revealed in literature that several organic compounds such as aldehydes, ketones, carboxylic acids, etc. are produced in soil as a result of chemicaJI or biochemical 2 decomposition of organic matter used in agriculture and of the crop residues. They are found to play an important role in the translocation of plant nutrients as well as toxic me- tals and their availability3 to plants. Higher dosages of these organic chemicals sometimes become fatal to plants and adversly affect the life processes of soil microor- ganism. Among trace metals Zn, Cu and Co are regarded as micronutrients and are required for the healthy growth of plants and animals. Zn 11 acts as a prosthetic group of an en- zyme in the conversion of tryptophan into indole acetic acid, the growth promoting hormone. Copper is required in certain biological oxidation-reduction systems, whereas cobalt is regarded to be essential for symbiotic N 2 fixation some microorganism and in the synthesis of vitamin B 12 needed for animal health. Silver and lead 4 are hazardous for plants, microtlora and soil microorganism 5 . The use of tly ash as a source of plant nutrients tried in agriculture has became topic of research 6 . However, scanty information is available in literature on the role of fly ash in the translocation of trace metals through soil amended with it in relation of these soil organics. The present study was designed with a view to ascertain the role of certain or- ganic compounds, namely, acetic acid, formic acid, 326 ethanol, methanol, acetaldehyde, formaldehyde, acetone and ethyl methyl ketone on the translocation of some trace metals such as Co, Zn, Cu, Ag and Pb through soil amended with fly ash. Results and Discussion It is evident from Fig. I that mobility of trace metals, namely, Co, Zn, Cu, Ag and Pb varies with varying con- centration of fly ash in soil as well as with the nature of or- ganic compounds used as mobile phase. The mobility of various metal ions follows the order : Co > Zn > Cu > Ag > Pb, through soil amended with fly ash as a static phase and water or given organic acids and alcohols used as mobile phase. These results are in close agreements with the work of Gaszczyk et al. 7 . This order of mobility seems to be in- versely related to the order of their binding capacity of given ions with the soil colloids 8 . The mobility order of metal ions in case of aldehydes and ketones follows the order : Co> Cu > Zn > Ag > Pb, which is slightly different from the above. The variation in the order of mobilities be- tween copper and zinc in the systems of acids and alcohols on one hand and in aldehydes and ketones on the other may be attributed to the difference in the rate of their per- meability and nature of functional groups present in the mobile phases of these systems. The mobility is found to decrease with the increasing dosages of fly ash in soil and is attributed to the enhancement in the adsorbing capacity caused by the unburnt carbon content (0.6%) in fly ash 9 . The order of organic compounds in the translocation of trace metals through soils is governed by their chemical be-