Natural Soil Mixed with paper Mill Sludge Characterization by 1H Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Longitudinal Relaxation Time

Proton Time Domain Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (1H TD-NMR) is a powerful non-invasive and non-destructive technique widely used in many fields to investigate porous media saturated with water. However, 1H TD-NMR is not so much used in soil science, especially on samples rich in organic content. In this study the correlation of the longitudinal relaxation times to the total organic carbon content of materials used in remediation treatment (in particular, mixtures of paper mill sludges and natural soils) has been investigated. In these samples it has been observed a correlation between the increase of carbon content and the decrease of detected water in the micropores. This result corroborates the idea that organic matter tends to migrate inside the micropores, leaving less space available for water.