The packed column technique with injection of very short sample pulses was demonstrated in this study to be well suited for studying the mass transfer coefficients of colloidal particles flowing through porous media. It has been used here to examine the deposition and release kinetics of model colloidal latex spheres with sulfate surface functional groups in packed soda-lime glass beads. Apart from the commonly observed process of particle removal by the beads, strong evidence of spontaneous detachment of the deposited particles from the bead surfaces was found without even changing solution chemistry or flow conditions. In particular, the rate constants of the two processes were estimated from the measured particle breakthrough curves on the basis of the convection-dispersion equation coupled with a two-site first-order kinetics model; the reversible site was used to account for the observed particle release, while the irreversible site was assumed to be responsible for the apparent loss of particles in the column. Solution ionic strength was found to have a significant effect on the deposition process. Upon increasing ionic strength, the particle deposition rate constant showed transition from slow to fast regime, and this can be explained qualitatively using the DLVO theory. The particle release rate constant was, however, seen to be almost independent of ionic strength. One of the main advantages of this pulse-injection technique over the traditionally used continuous step input method is that many repeat experiments can be performed on the same column without causing significant blocking or filter ripening effects owing to the very small amount of particles injected into the column.