Acetic acid geochemistry

This procedure is called speciation - calculating the activity and concentration of every known ion and complex or ion-pair in a solution of a given bulk composition and at a given T and P. It is basically a problem in numerical analysis, and has not much to do with thermodynamics. In Chapter 15 we saw that strictly speaking we need not bother with species at aU, we could assume all solutes such as acetic acid are completely ionized, except that in this particular case that approach does not work very weU HAc is too strongly associated. Nevertheless, speciation in the sense of this chapter is now an everyday occurrence in geochemistry. 

In the fields of environmental and exploration geochemistry, considerable use has been made of sequential extraction procedures in order to determine the bioavailability and geomobUity of trace metals (including V, Cr, As, Se, Cd and Pb). More recently, sequential extractions have been used to elucidate information relating to the speciation of metals in soils and sediments. The extraction protocol developed by Tessier " has traditionally been used (with modifications) and involves the sequential use of a variable cocktail of extractants including acetic acid, sodium acetate, magnesiumchloride, EDTA, acidified hydroxylamine hydrochloride, oxalic acid, sodium... 

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