Selenite and Selenate Sequestration during Coprecipitation with Barite: Insights from Mineralization Processes of Adsorption, Nucleation, and Growth

Coprecipitation of selenium oxyanions with barite is a facile way to sequester Se in the environments. However, the chemical composition of Se-barite coprecipitates usually deviates from that predicted from thermodynamic calculations. This discrepancy was resolved by considering variations in nucleation and growth rates controlled by ion-mineral interactions, solubility, and interfacial energy. For homogeneous precipitation, ∼10% of sulfate, higher than thermodynamic predictions (<0.3%), was substituted by Se(IV) or Se(VI) oxyanion, which was attributed to adsorption-induced entrapment during crystal growth. For heterogeneous precipitation, thiol- and carboxylic-based organic films, utilized as model interfaces to mimic the natural organic-abundant environments, further enhanced the sequestration of Se(VI) oxyanions (up to 41-92%) with barite. Such enhancement was kinetically driven by increased nucleation rates of selenate-rich barite having a lower interfacial energy than pure barite. In contrast, only small amounts of Se(IV) oxyanions (∼1%) were detected in heterogeneous coprecipitates mainly due to a lower saturation index of BaSeO₃ and deprotonation degree of Se(IV) oxyanion at pH 5.6. These roles of nanoscale mineralization mechanisms observed during composition selection of Se-barite could mark important steps toward the remediation of contaminants through coprecipitation.