Peat humus

Novotny, E. H., and Martin-Neto, L. (2002). Effects of humidity and metal ions on the free radicals analysis of peat humus. Geoderma 106,305-317. 

Attempts at characterizing peat humus through spectroscopy and chemical degradation procedures (Walmsley, 1973 Stevenson, 1974 Fuchsman, 1980) also have shown that peat humic substances are similar to those from mineral soils. For example Levesque et al. (1980b) found that humic substances extracted by sodium pyrophosphate from 10 different peat materials that varied in botanical origin and extent of humification yielded aliphatic and phenolic compounds and benzenecarboxylic acids (Table 14) in amounts... 

TABLE 14. Summary of Types of Compound Obtained by Oxidation of 1.0 g of Pyrophosphate-Soluble Peat Humus with... 

The presence of large proportions of nonhumified material of diverse origins and properties hampers the dissolution, fractionation, and estimation of humic substances in peatlands. No satisfactory methods exist for these purposes. Most studies of peat humus therefore focus on pyrophosphate extracts or humic acids obtained by sodium hydroxide extraction. 

Solid hydrophobic substances are represented mostly by high molecular organic substances. They include such organic substance decomposition products as peat, humus, sapropel, and also asphalt-resinous substances and their derivatives, which along with solid hydrocarbons (octadecane, naphthalene, biphenyl, phenantrene, perylene, adamantine, etc.) compose bitumens. 

In constructing Organophiles a limited set of elements participates. Major in their composition are C and H and also other nonmetals (O, N, S, P etc.), which play a secondary role. Most Organophiles are compounds insoluble in water. The main absorbent for them always remains organic matter, which shows in the value of octanol-water distribution coefficient (K ) > 1- Organophiles are well soluble in one another, easily absorbed by organic matter (dispersed in rocks, peat, humus, oil, oil products, etc.) and are almost absent in water. 

Color. Many water samples have a yellow to brownish-yeUow color which is caused by natural substances, eg, leaves, bark, humus, and peat material. Turbidity in a sample can make the measurement of color uncertain and is usually removed by centrifiigation prior to analysis. The color is usually measured by comparison of the sample with known concentrations of colored solutions. A platinum—cobalt solution is used as the standard, and the unit of color is that produced by 1 mg/L platinum as chloroplatinate ion. The standard is prepared from potassium chloroplatinate (K PtCl ) and cobalt chloride (C0CI26H2O). The sample may also be compared to suitably caUbrated special glass color disks. 

In contrast, composting processes utilize a mixture of solids and yard waste under controlled environmental conditions to produce a disinfected, humus-like product. Three common composting systems are a horizontal agitated reactor, a horizontal nonagitated reactor, and an aerated static pile system (nonproprietary). Compost can be marketed as a soil conditioner in competition with such products as peat, soil, and mulch. Although a large potential market exists, significant effort is required to penetrate this market. Yard waste revenue of 6.50/m (S5/yd ) and product revenue of 2.00/m ( 1.50/yd ) appear to be reasonable market values based on various studies reported on the Web. 

Timonen S, KS Jorgensen, K Haahtela, R Sen (1998) Bacterial community structure at defined locations of Pinus sylvestris-Suillus bovinus and Pinus sylvestris-Paxillus involutus mycorrhizospheres in dry pine forest humus and nursery peat. Can J Microbiol 44 499-513. 

Vasylyeva T., Duka E, Kharitonov N., 1996. Rehabilitation effect of humus substances in ecopathological conditions 10th International Peat Congress, Bremen-Germany... 

Biomass is used here to describe any biosynthetic matter, such as all vegetation (flora), its recent detritus (e.g. litter, humus, peat to lignite), all fauna (e.g. rendering, cooking), and all products produced by industry utilizing... 

Various separation methods have been used to isolate, fractionate, and characterize humic materials. Originally it was fractionation, based on solubility differences of humic components in diluted alkalis and acids, which laid the ground work for the first classifications of humic substances (HS) in the 19th century (Mulder, 1861 Sprengel, 1837) and provided for operational definition of HS (Kononova, 1966). And now, alkali extraction is the method of choice for isolating HS from solid humus-containing substrates like soil, peat, coal, and so on (Swift, 1996), while hydrophobic resins (e.g., Amberlite XAD resins) are typically used to extract HS dissolved in natural waters (Aiken, 1985). Initial research on HS began with the used simple separation methods to prove, examine, and define characteristics of components of humic matter (Oden, 1919).Today, however, advances in HS research require ever more sophisticated techniques of separation combined with structural analysis (Orlov, 1990 Stevenson, 1994). 

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