The adsorption of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide (CO and CO2) on a number of specially prepared alpha-Fe2O3 samples was measured gravimetrically at 25 degrees C. The samples were prepared from a steel-pickling waste (97 wt% FeSO4 . 7H(2)O) by roasting the original material at 700 degrees C for 5 h in air, oxygen, and nitrogen. Estimated surface coverages by the adsorbed CO and CO2 were made on the basis of nitrogen-adsorption-based surface areas, while the nature of the sample surfaces was investigated by both X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and field emission SEM (FESEM) techniques. In addition a depth profiling study utilizing a sputtering argon beam and XPS was undertaken. Morphological studies using FESEM showed that neither CO nor CO2 caused any significant structural changes. The nature of the resultant alpha-Fe2O3 sample surfaces differed, with the degree of oxygenation decreasing in the order of preparatory gases : oxygen, (wet) air, nitrogen [IP(O), IP(A), and IP(N)]. The amounts of both CO and CO2 adsorbed decreased in the sample order IP(A) > IP(O) > IP(N), though in the case of CO adsorption, the amounts adsorbed on IP(A) and IP(O) were not greatly different. In all cases the amounts adsorbed represented only fractional coverage. Adsorption of the more acidic CO2 is thought to be favored more by basic O-2(x-) than by O2- sites on both IP(O) and IP(A), but with surface hydroxyl groups also playing a role (particularly on IP(A)). The CO2 adsorption should result in the formation of mono-, di-, and polydentate carbonate and bicarbonate species, with increasing degassing temperatures favoring the polydentate species and the decomposition of the bicarbonate and carbonate to form undissociated CO2. The adsorption of CO (a weak base) is postulated to take place on strong Lewis acid, highly coordinated, metal sites to form metal carbonyl species, on strong base sites (O2-) to form carbonite, oxalate, and ketenic species, and, to a lesser degree, on surface hydroxyl groups to form formyl and formate species.