Sorption characteristics of both an organic pollutant (phenol) and a heavy metal (cadmium ion) on the clay layer of a Lou soil (Eum-orthic Anthrosol in Chinese Soil Taxonomy) along with the sorption mechanism were investigated using three soil treatments: modification with a cationic surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide added at an amount equivalent to 50% and 100% of the soil CEC (50%CB and 100%CB), modification with an amphoteric surface-modifying agent dodecyldimethylbetaine (commercially known as BS-12) added at an amount equivalent to 50% and 100% of the soil CEC (50% BS and 100%BS), and an unmodified control (CK). Results showed that the BS soil treatments increased sorption of both the heavy metal Cd2+ and the organic pollutant phenol. The equilibrium sorption amount of Cd2+ decreased in the order: 50%BS > 100%BS > CK > 50%CB > 100%CB, with the BS soil treatments being about 1.3 to 1.8 times higher and the CB soil treatments about 23% to 41% lower than CK. Both the single-site and two-site Langmuir models could be applied to describe the sorption of Cd2+ in each soil treatment. The equilibrium sorption amount of phenol on the soil samples decreased in the order: 100%CB > 50%CB > 100%BS > 50%BS > CK, with the CB soil treatments being 41.0 to 79.6 times higher and the BS soil treatments 4.0 to 8.3 times higher than CK. The Freundlich equation could also be used to describe the sorption characteristics of phenol. In the BS soil treatments, both an organophobic long carbon chain and hydrophilic charged groups resulted in a relatively strong sorption ability for both heavy metals and organic pollutants. In addition, the sorption ratio K, the ratio of phenol sorption amount of the modified soil to that of CK, increased initially and decreased later with the amount of phenol added, and the critical sorption ratio KC, the peak value of the sorption ratio curve plotted against the added phenol concentration, was a good index for evaluating the sorption ability of phenol in the soil.
