Spectroscopic Characterization of Fulvic Acid Fractions of a Contaminated Groundwater

Abstract

Two fulvic acid (FA) samples taken from a former gas production facility in the Southwest of Germany were characterized using advanced fluorescence techniques. Steady‐state fluorescence (fluorescence excitation, synchronous fluorescence) as well as time‐resolved fluorescence were applied. Distinct differences between the sample B22 FA taken within the contamination plume and the sample B53 FA taken downstream were found. Comparison with a model compound for metabolites and humic substances revealed that due to the downstream passage the characteristics of the dissolved organic matter became more humic‐like. The assignment of single classes of compounds in the sample B22 FA is discussed in terms of their synchronous fluorescence spectra and fluorescence decay time distribution.

Adsorbed and Bound Residues in Fulvic Acid Fractions of a Contaminated Groundwater - Isolation:, Chromatographic and Spectroscopic Characterization

“…On the basis of the retention times in SEC and HIC compared to a standard the peak can be tentatively attributed to salicylic acid. The tentative identification could be confirmed by further investigations applying synchronous fluorescence spectroscopy [16]. Since, it is obvious that the peak is only reduced in size by solvent extraction at neutral pH and salicylic acid should be associated with the FA by weak intermolecular forces, too.…”

“…Synchronous and time-resolved fluorescence measurements are promising approaches to further investigate these interactions and to confirm these results and interpret the fluorescing compounds. Results will be given in another paper [16].…”

Uranium(VI) complexation by humic acid under neutral pH conditions studied by laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy

“…These two lifetimes indicate the existence of a short and a long-living fluorescence species contributing to the HA fluorescence. The obtained lifetimes have the same order of magnitude as those reported by Kumke et al for aqueous solutions of fulvic acid [30] and natural organic matter [31]. There, the authors reported further the occurrence of a third fluorescence contribution with a longer fluorescence lifetime τ 3 in the range from 11 to 24 ns.…”

Organic Contaminants in Riverine and Groundwater Systems

“…These natural compounds with unordered molecular structures represent an organic pool, that is objective of numerous investigations especially with respect to structure analysis (e.g. Thurman and Malcolm 1983;Sonnenberg et al 1989;Schulten and Leineweber 1996;Göbbels and Püttmann 1997;Kumke et al 1999;Esteves and Duarte 2000) or the interaction with natural occurring or anthropogenic low molecular weight substances (e.g Huber et al 1992;Jensen-Korte et al 1987;Klaus et al 1998a/b;Zwiener et al 1999, Northcot and.…”