Humic removal

Also, research on the use of UV/H202 system to treat NOM has been carried out [192-194], Backlund [192] carried out the oxidation of an aquatic humic material with a 254-nm UV lamp in the presence and absence of hydrogen peroxide. He reported significant increases in the humic removal rate with the combined system. He noticed the destruction of macromolecules to yield smaller fragments and identified some compounds such as oxalic acid, acetic acid, malonic acid, etc., which accounted for 20% and 80% of the NOM in UV and UV/H202 systems. Also, he observed that these processes do not lead to any mutagenic activity in the treated water. 

In the removal of contaminating ions such as (PO or Fe " a precipitate such as Ca2(P0 2 Fe(OH)2, after oxidizing ferrous ion to ferric, is formed and the soHd is removed. The addition of surfactants is usually not essential (nor desirable) since most waters contain natural surfactants that would render the soflds sufficiently hydrophobic for flotation to occur. Such surfactants derive from the degradation of organic matter, and humic substances abundantly available in nature (30). 

Humic acids are alkaH-extractable materials and total humic acid content is a term that refers to the humic acid content of coal that has had its carboxylate cations removed with sodium pyrophosphate. Values for some typical AustraHan brown coals range from 24—92% (13). Treatment of lignitic coals with mineral acid to release the alkaH and alkaline cations may dissolve up to 20% of the coal. The naturally moist coals are slightly acidic and have a pH of 3.5—6.5. 

Identification, isolation, and removal of (polyhydroxy)benzenes from the environment have received increased attention throughout the 1980s and 1990s. The biochemical activity of the benzenepolyols is at least in part based on thek oxidation—reduction potential. Many biochemical studies of these compounds have been made, eg, of enzymic glycoside formation, enzymic hydroxylation and oxidation, biological interactions with biochemically important compounds such as the catecholamines, and humic acid formation. The range of biochemical function of these compounds and thek derivatives is not yet fully understood. 

Pretreatment For most membrane applications, particularly for RO and NF, pretreatment of the feed is essential. If pretreatment is inadequate, success will be transient. For most applications, pretreatment is location specific. Well water is easier to treat than surface water and that is particularly true for sea wells. A reducing (anaerobic) environment is preferred. If heavy metals are present in the feed even in small amounts, they may catalyze membrane degradation. If surface sources are treated, chlorination followed by thorough dechlorination is required for high-performance membranes [Riley in Baker et al., op. cit., p. 5-29]. It is normal to adjust pH and add antisealants to prevent deposition of carbonates and siillates on the membrane. Iron can be a major problem, and equipment selection to avoid iron contamination is required. Freshly precipitated iron oxide fouls membranes and reqiiires an expensive cleaning procedure to remove. Humic acid is another foulant, and if it is present, conventional flocculation and filtration are normally used to remove it. The same treatment is appropriate for other colloidal materials. Ultrafiltration or microfiltration are excellent pretreatments, but in general they are... 

This removal may also include diffusion of soluble U(VI) from seawater into the sediment via pore water. Uranium-organic matter complexes are also prevalent in the marine environment. Organically bound uranium was found to make up to 20% of the dissolved U concentration in the open ocean." ° Uranium may also be enriched in estuarine colloids and in suspended organic matter within the surface ocean. " Scott" and Maeda and Windom" have suggested the possibility that humic acids can efficiently scavenge uranium in low salinity regions of some estuaries. Finally, sedimentary organic matter can also efficiently complex or adsorb uranium and other radionuclides. 

In multiresidue analysis, where more analytes with a wide polarity range need to be determined, large transfer volumes are required, and consequently, the selectivity is lower. However, since the major interferences in water analysis are the polar humic and fulvic acids, removing this early eluting interference in coupled-column RPLC will also be feasible in multiresidue methodology. 

E. A. Hogendoorn, E. Dijkman, B. Baumann, C. Hidalgo, J. V. Sancho and E. Hernandez, Strategies in using analytical restricted access media columns for the removal of humic acid interferences in the trace analysis of acidic herbicides in water... 

N. Masque R. M. Marce and E. Boirull, Chemical removal of humic substances interfering with the on-line solid-phase exti action-liquid chi omatographic determination of polar water pollutants , Chromatographia 4 231-236 (1998). 

Color in water (apart from textile dyes, etc.) often is caused by the degradation of natural organic matter, resulting in colloidal humic and fiilvic acids. These are best removed by precipitation with metal salts, but performance may be improved with high-charge cationic polymers. 

Bone protein was extracted following the method described by Sealy (1986). Bone chips were demineralized in a weak HCl solution, then soaked in 0.1 M NaOH to remove base-soluble humic substances. Remaining material, which is mainly collagen, but includes non-collagenous proteins, was... 

This technique is based on the same separation mechanisms as found in liquid chromatography (LC). In LC, the solubility and the functional group interaction of sample, sorbent, and solvent are optimized to effect separation. In SPE, these interactions are optimized to effect retention or elution. Polar stationary phases, such as silica gel, Florisil and alumina, retain compounds with polar functional group (e.g., phenols, humic acids, and amines). A nonpolar organic solvent (e.g. hexane, dichloromethane) is used to remove nonpolar inferences where the target analyte is a polar compound. Conversely, the same nonpolar solvent may be used to elute a nonpolar analyte, leaving polar inferences adsorbed on the column. 

Removal to sediments. Removal of surface-reactive trace elements from the oceans readily occurs by adsorption onto settling particles, and this process is most pronounced in the typically high-energy, particle-rich estuarine environment. Particles are supplied by rivers, augmented by additions of organic material generated within the estuary. Also, floes are created in estuaries from such components as humic acids and Fe. The interaction between dissolved and colloidal species is enhanced by the continuous resuspension of sediments in... 

The aqueous fraction was acidified to pH 1 with 6N HC1, and the small amount of humic acids which precipitated was removed by filtration. The filtrate was extracted three times with 100-ml portions of ethyl acetate. The organic extracts were combined, dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate, and filtered. The solvent was removed by rotary evaporation and the residue contained the freed byproducts from the hydrolyzed esterified and insoluble-bound compounds. 

Drying and remoistening air-dry soils greatly lowers their ability to oxidize Cr (Bartlett and James, 1980). Since Cr3+ has a similar ionic radius (0.64 x 10 10 m) to Mg (0.65 x 10 10 m) and trivalent Fe (0.65 x 10 ° m), it is possible that Cr3+ could readily substitute for Mg in silicates and for Fe3+ in iron oxides. This explains the high proportion of Cr found in the residual fraction in the native arid soil. On the other hand, humic acids have a high affinity for Cr (III) (Adriano, 1986). Thus, present results show that when soluble Cr was added to soils, Cr3+ was initially and immediately bound to the organic matter fraction. Due to its slow conversion into the reducible oxide and residual fractions, Cr in the amended soils departed and remained removed from the quasi-equilibrium. However, Cr approached the quasiequilibrium with time. 

Fig. 11. Diagram showing the efficiency of an organoclay in removing dissolved humic acid from a Florida ground water in comparison with activated carbon. The total organic carbon concentration was 5.6 ppm. See Fig. 8 for the meaning of C/C0. After Beall (2003).

Abdul, A.S., Gibson, T.L., Rai, D.N. (1990) Use of humic acid solution to remove organic contaminants from hydrogeologic systems. Environ. Sci. Technol. 24(3), 328-333. 

Brown and Bellinger [123] have proposed an ultraviolet technique that is applicable to both polluted and unpolluted fresh and some estuarine waters. Humic acid and other organics are removed on an ion exchange resin. Bromide interference in seawater samples can be minimised by suitable dilution of the sample but this raises the lower limit of detection such that only on relatively rich (0.5 mg/1 NO3N) estuarine and inshore waters could the method be used. Chloride at concentrations in excess of 10 000 mg/1 do not interfere. 

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