scholarly journals Development of methods for the separation and characterization of natural organic matter in dam water

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Pinkie Sobantu

This project arose out the need for a simple method to analyse NOM on a routine basis. Water samples were obtained from the Vaal dam, which is one of the dams used by a hydroelectric power station. Analysis was preceded by separation of NOM into the humic and non-humic portions. The humic portion was separated into two fractions by employing a non-ionic resin (DAX-8) to separate humic acid from fulvic acid. High performance size exclusion chromatography (HPSEC), equipped with an Ultraviolet( UV) detector and an Evaporative Light Scattering (ELS) detector connected in series, was used to obtain molecular weight distribution information and the concentration levels of the two acids. Mixed standards of polyethylene oxide/glycol were employed to calibrate the selected column. Suwanee River humic acid standard was used as a certified reference material. The molecular weight distributions (MWDs) of the isolated fractions of humic and fulvic acids were determined with ELSD detection as weight-average (Mw), number-average (Mn) and polydispersity (ρ) of individual NOM fractions. The Mw/Mn ratio was found to be less than 1.5 in all the fractions, indicating that they have a low and narrow size fraction. An increase in Mn and Mw values, with increasing wavelength for all three humic substances (HS) examined was observed. The HS, isolated from the dam water, was found to be about the same molecular weight as the International Humic Acid Standard (IIHSS). For the fulvic acid standard, the molecular weight was estimated to be around 7500 Da. Characterization of NOM was done to assist in the identification of the species present in the water. FTIR-ATR was used to as a characterization tool to identify the functional groups in the structure of the humic and fulvic acid respectively present in the Vaal Dam. Analysis of the infrared (IR) spectra indicated that the humic acids of the Vaal dam have phenolic hydroxyl groups, hydroxyl groups, conjugated double bond of aromatic family (C=C), and free carboxyl groups. The isolation method has proved to be applicable and reliable for dam water samples and showed to successfully separate the humic substances from water and further separate the humic substances into its hydrophobic acids, namely, humic and fulvic acids. It can be concluded that the Eskom Vaal dam composes of humic substance which shows that the technique alone gives a very good indication of the characteristics of water. The HPSEC method used, equipped with UV and ELSD was able to identify the molecular weight range of NOM present in source water as it confirmed that the Eskom Vaal dam contains humic substances as humic acid and fulvic acid and these pose a health concern as they can form disinfectant byproducts in the course of water treatment with chemicals. FTIR characterization was successful as important functional groups were clearly assigned. Lastly, the use of the TOC and DOC values to calculate SUVA was also a good tool to indicate the organic content in water. It is recommended to use larger amounts of water must be processed to obtain useful quantities of the humic and fulvic acid fractions.

Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1067
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Ukalska-Jaruga ◽  
Romualda Bejger ◽  
Guillaume Debaene ◽  
Bożena Smreczak

The objective of this paper was to investigate the molecular characterization of soil organic matter fractions (humic substances (HS): fulvic acids-FAs, humic acids-HAs, and humins-HNs), which are the most reactive soil components. A wide spectrum of spectroscopic (UV–VIS and VIS–nearIR), as well as electrochemical (zeta potential, particle size diameter, and polydispersity index), methods were applied to find the relevant differences in the behavior, formation, composition, and sorption properties of HS fractions derived from various soils. Soil material (n = 30) used for the study were sampled from the surface layer (0–30 cm) of agricultural soils. FAs and HAs were isolated by sequential extraction in alkaline and acidic solutions, according to the International Humic Substances Society method, while HNs was determined in the soil residue (after FAs and HAs extraction) by mineral fraction digestion using a 0.1M HCL/0.3M HF mixture and DMSO. Our study showed that significant differences in the molecular structures of FAs, Has, and HNs occurred. Optical analysis confirmed the lower molecular weight of FAs with high amount of lignin-like compounds and the higher weighted aliphatic–aromatic structure of HAs. The HNs were characterized by a very pronounced and strong condensed structure associated with the highest molecular weight. HAs and HNs molecules exhibited an abundance of acidic, phenolic, and amine functional groups at the aromatic ring and aliphatic chains, while FAs mainly showed the presence of methyl, methylene, ethenyl, and carboxyl reactive groups. HS was characterized by high polydispersity related with their structure. FAs were characterized by ellipsoidal shape as being associated to the long aliphatic chains, while HAs and HNs revealed a smaller particle diameter and a more spherical shape caused by the higher intermolecular forcing between the particles. The observed trends directly indicate that individual HS fractions differ in behavior, formation, composition, and sorption properties, which reflects their binding potential to other molecules depending on soil properties resulting from their type. The determined properties of individual HS fractions are presented as averaged characteristics over the examined soils with different physico-chemical properties.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Milanka Radulovic ◽  
◽  
Svetlana Mitrovski

Peat is a natural substrate for growth of microorganisms because it is rich in compounds that microorganisms can use as sources of carbon, nitrogen and growth factors. Peat originating from Vlasina lake in Eastern Serbia is especially rich in organic matter. The content of humic substances (humic acid, fulvic acid and humine) is almost twice that found in other peat-rich regions of similar origin and geochemical age. Humic and fluvic acids are known to promote microbial growth. In this work, humic and fulvic acids were first extracted from Vlasina lake peat and then added to minimal medium (synthetic, low ionic strength medium). The humic substances were added separately and combined in a 1:1 ratio by mass to study their individual and combined effect on microbial growth of Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 (Gr–), Staphyloccocus aureus (Gr+) i Aureobasidium pullulans, strain CH-1. The microbial growth was measured microspectrophotometrically over a 24-hour period and growth curves were obtained for a range of acid concentrations between 25 µg cm-3 and 100 µg cm-3. It was found that both humic and fulvic acids promote the growth of all three microorganisms by up to a maximum of 40%-80% the extent of which varied with the concentration of the acid and the identity of the microorganism. In general, humic acid was found to result in higher microbial growth (at highest concentrations, up to ~80% for all three microbial species).


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Ukalska-Jaruga ◽  
Romualda Bejger ◽  
Guillaume Debaene ◽  
Bozena Smreczak

<p>The objective of this paper was to investigate the molecular characterization of individual humic substances ( fulvic acids-FAs, humic ascids-HAs, and humins-HNs), which are the most reactive soil components and exhibit high sorption capacity in relation to various groups of organic contaminants. A wide spectrum of spectroscopic (UV-VIS, VIS-nearIR), as well as electrochemical (zeta potential, particle size diameter, polidyspersity index), methods were applied to find the relevant differences in the behavior, formation, composition and sorption properties of HS fractions derived from various mineral soils.</p><p>Soil material (n = 30) used for the study were sampled from the surface layer (0–30 cm) of agricultural soils. FAs and HAs were isolated by sequential extraction in alkaline and acidic solutions, according to the International Humic Substances Society method, while HNs was determined in the soil residue (after FAs and HAs extraction) by mineral fraction digestion using a 0.1M HCL/0.3M HF mixture and DMSO.</p><p>Our study showed that significant differences in the molecular structures of FAs, HAs and HNs occurred. Optical analysis confirmed the lower molecular weight of FAs with high amount of lignin-like compounds and the higher weighted aliphatic–aromatic structure of HAs. The HNs were characterized by a very pronounced and strong condensed structure associated with the highest molecular weight. HAs and HNs molecules exhibited an abundance of acidic, phenolic and amine functional groups at the aromatic ring and aliphatic chains, while FAs mainly showed the presence of methyl, methylene, ethenyl and carboxyl reactive groups. HS was characterized by high polydispersity related with their structure. FAs were characterized by ellipsoidal shape as being associated to the long aliphatic chains, while HAs and HNs revealed a smaller particle diameter and a more spherical shape caused by the higher intermolecular forcing between the particles.  </p><p>The observed trends directly indicate that individual HS fractions differ in behavior, formation, composition and sorption properties, which reflects their binding potential to different group of organic contaminants, but the general properties of individual fractions are similar and do not depend on the type of soil.</p><p><em>Acknowledgement: The studies were supported from the National Science Centre project No. 2018/29/N/ST10/01320 “Analysis of the fractional composition and sorption properties of humic substances in relation to various groups of organic contaminants”</em></p>


1967 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 245-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Schnitzer

Twenty organic-soil samples of widely differing degrees of decomposition were extracted with 0.5 N NaOH solution under N2. Amounts of humic and of fulvic acids in the acidified extracts did not correlate significantly with pyrophosphate solubilities. This was thought to be due to interference in the separation scheme by relatively large amounts of ash constituents in the extracts. Since the "classical" fractionation of soil organic matter appears to involve essentially the "salting out" of higher molecular-weight humic from lower molecular-weight fulvic acids, an excessively high salt concentration during the separation should be avoided.To lower the concentration of inorganic constituents in the extracts, the samples were first pretreated with dilute HCl–HF solution and then extracted with 0.1 N NaOH rather than with 0.5 N NaOH. Under these conditions, amounts of fulvic acids in the acidified extracts showed a significant positive correlation (r = 0.52) with pyrophosphate solubilities of untreated extracts, whereas amounts of humic acids in the extracts exhibited a highly negative correlation (r = −0.57) with pyrophosphate solubilities. In the soils examined, increased humification was associated with increases in fulvic-acid but decreases in humic-acid concentrations.From the results of this and of earlier investigations done in this laboratory it appeared that the main mechanism governing humification in these soils was oxidative degradation, resulting ultimately in the formation of fulvic from humic acid.


2000 ◽  
Vol 88 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
J.J. Lenhart ◽  
S.E. Cabaniss ◽  
P. MacCarthy ◽  
Bruce D. Honeyman

The binding of uranium(VI) by Suwannee River humic and fulvic acids was studied at pH values of 4.0 and 5.0 in 0.10 M NaClOBoth humic and fulvic acids were demonstrated to strongly bind U(VI), with humic acid forming slightly stronger complexes and exhibiting greater pH dependence. Analyses of the data for the humic and fulvic acid systems using the Schubert´s equation previously applied to the citrate system result in an apparent nonintegral number of ligands binding the uranyl ion. Schubert´s method is only appropriate for interpreting mononuclear complexes with integral moles of binding ligands. Thus, a more elaborate binding model was required and the data were interpreted assuming either: (1) a mixture of 1:1 and 1:2 uranyl-ligand complexes or (2) a limited number of high affinity sites forming a 1:1 complex. While both of these modeling approaches are shown to provide excellent fits to the data, the second is deemed more appropriate given the large size of humic and fulvic acid molecules as well as previous results obtained with other metal cations, such as Cu(II).


2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 33-35
Author(s):  
T Enkh-Oyun ◽  
Ts Tsatsralt ◽  
J Bayarmaa

Mumie contains humid and fulvic acids. For this study, pure mumie was fractionated into fulvic acid (FA) and humic acid (HA) fractions. Humic and Fulvic Acids are highly active bioregulators, and also they contain both macro- and micro-nutrients needed by human and animal bodies. Mumie is stone like material found in Mongolia at higher altitude, which has various medical applications in Mongolia and other Asian countries [2,3]. In the present study, the biological activity of mumie and its fractions was measured. Fractions were prepared according to the protocol described by I. A. Scheretkin and A.I. Khlebnikov. Both humic and fulvic acids can be obtained with the yields of 5.3% and 18.6 % respectively DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5564/mjas.v11i2.213 Mongolian Journal of Agricultural Sciences Vol.11(2) 2013 pp.33-35


2003 ◽  
Vol 47 (9) ◽  
pp. 77-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Yamamoto ◽  
H.M. Liljestrand

In this study, sorption of some estrogens and estrogenic compounds onto several organic colloids was examined using fluorescence quenching techniques. Selected organic colloids included humic substances of several sources, Aldrich humic acid (AHA), Suwannee River humic acid (SRHA), Suwannee River fulvic acid (SRFA), and Nordic fulvic acid (NFA). Polysaccharides, alginic acid (AA) and dextran (Dex), and tannic acid (TA) were also selected. 17β-estradiol (E2), 17α-ethynylestradiol (EES), and estriol (E3) were selected as estrogens. Nonylphenol (NP), octylphenol (OP), and dibutylphthalate (DBP) were selected as estrogenic compounds. For most of the selected compounds, the sorption coefficients were in the order of TA > humic acids (SRHA or AHA) > fulvic acids (NFA or SRFA) > AA. The smallest or no significant sorption onto dextran was found for selected estrogens and estrogenic compounds. Comparing those compounds, neither a significant trend nor linear correlation with Log Kow was found. The resulting sorption coefficients for humic substances and TA suggested approximately 15 to 50% of the estrogens and estrogenic compounds were bound in typical natural water of 5 mgTOC/L and significant effects on the removal of them by water treatment processes, toxicity, or bioavailability were suggested.


1991 ◽  
Vol 42 (6) ◽  
pp. 675 ◽  
Author(s):  
GM Day ◽  
R Beckett ◽  
BT Hart ◽  
ID McKelvie

The natural organic matter (NOM) from three streams (Redwater Creek, Slip Creek, Myrtle Creek) and one small lake (the Inkpot) in Victoria, Australia, was fractionated by a simplified version of Leenheer's method in which the NOM is separated into two fractions-hydrophobic acid (HFo-A) compounds and total hydrophilic (HE-T) compounds-on the basis of association with XAD-8 resin. Subsequently, the HFo-A fraction was further separated into humic acid and fulvic acid fractions. One sample (Redwater Creek) was also separated into six different fractions by the full Leenheer scheme. Considerable variation was found in the ratio of humic substances (or the HFo-A fraction) to nonhumic substances (or the HFi-T fraction) between the four samples, with ratios ranging from a high of 77:23% for the Inkpot to a low of 20:80% for Slip Creek. Samples with higher NOM concentrations had higher percentages of humic substances. The major differences in the proportions of humic to nonhumic compounds observed for Slip Creek (20:80%) and Myrtle Creek (52:48%) support the hypothesis that the residence time of the water in the catchment (or, more specifically, the contact time between this water and the sediments, soil, vegetation and microbial community) may control the concentration and nature of aquatic NOM. Within the HFo-A, or humic fraction, the ratio of fulvic acids to humic acids was fairly constant for each of the four water samples investigated, being dominated (>80%) by fulvic acids.


Author(s):  
Shiva N. Suman ◽  
Nayan Ahmed ◽  
Vipin Kumar ◽  
Samar C. Datta ◽  
K. M. Manjaiah ◽  
...  

In the present investigation, different tillage and management practices interventions were assessed to note the changes in the composition of humic substances using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) techniques, optical density (E4/E6) measurement and elemental composition of humic acid. One uncultivated and four reclaimed alkali surface (0-0.15 m) soil samples after adoption of four years different tillage and management practices were collected from Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Karnal. Optical density (E4/E6) of fulvic acid was higher than that of humic acid. This was due to the more condensed and more matured nature of humic acid than fulvic acid. The trend of E4/E6 ratio was farmers practices in rice-fallow-wheat cropping system with puddled rice and conventional tillage wheat without crop residue addition (FP in R-F-W) > integrated crop and resource management in rice-wheat-mungbean cropping system (ICRM in R-W-M)> futuristic and diversified (CA) based system of maize-wheat-mungbean cropping system (FDCA in M-W-M) >UnK> Conservation agriculture (CA) based system in rice-wheat-mungbean cropping system (CA in R-W-M). The highest stability was recorded in CA in R-W-M and the lowest in FP in R-F-W. Elemental composition of extracted humic acid revealed that carbon content in humic acid varied from 47.53% in uncultivated soils to 51.32% in ICRM in R-W-M. The nitrogen content in humic acid varied from 4.38% in FDCA in M-W-M to 4.89% in CA in R-W-M. Soils having the lowest C/N value was observed 10.03 in CA in R-W-M and the highest C/N ratio of value 11.72 was recorded in FDCA in M-W-M. Wave no.  (cm-1) & proposed functional group of extracted humic acid revealed that FTIR peak at 1507-1508 cm-1 in CA in R-W-M, aromatic -C=C- peak was absent in FDCA in M-W-M and in FP in R-F-W it was replaced by aliphatic C-H stretch.


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