Dissolved Organic Carbon

In the next decades, the influence of wildfires in controlling the cycling and composition of soil organic matter (SOM) globally and in the western U.S. is expected to grow. While the impact of fires on bulk SOM has been extensively studied, the extent at which heating of soil affects the soluble component of SOM remains unclear. Here we investigated the thermal transformations of water-extractable organic matter (WEOM) by examining the changes in the distribution of carbon (C) functional groups in WEOM from soils heated at low and intermediate temperatures. WEOM (<0.7 μm particle size) was extracted from topsoils (0–5 cm depth) of five soil series formed from a nonglaciated granitic bedrock and sampled along a Sierra Nevada climosequence. Soils were heated in a muffle furnace at 150°C, 250°C, and 350°C for 1 h. The extracted solution was analyzed for WEOM aromaticity, mean molecular weight, organic C (OC) concentration, and major structural components by employing optical spectrophotometry and liquid-state 1 H-NMR spectroscopy. At 150°C and 250°C, OC concentrations increased relative to the thermally unaltered samples, with losses of oxygenated functional C groups and enrichment of aliphatic C structures observed at 250°C. Conversely, OC concentration and mean molecular weight decreased as heating increased from 250°C to 350°C, whereas WEOC became more enriched in aromatic C structures. Our results suggest that low and intermediate fire intensities significantly alter the nature of dissolved organic matter exported from soils to rivers in the Sierra Nevada and beyond.

Total arsenic, dissolved organic carbon (DOC), iron, major cations and anions were measured in tube-well waters used for drinking by people to investigate the geochemical condition of subsurface aquifer, source of arsenic and mechanism of arsenic release to groundwater of Bangladesh. Solid phases of total arsenic, iron, manganese and aluminum oxide and organic carbon (TOC) content in sediments were determined to find out their interrelationships. Arsenic concentrations in groundwaters vary from 0.03 to 0.75 mg/l with the mean value of 0.41 mg/l that exceed the maximum permissible limit of WHO (0.01 mg/l) and Bangladesh (0.05 mg/l) for drinking water. Arsenic concentrations demonstrate negative covariation with the concentrations of sulfate and nitrate but correlate weakly with iron concentrations and positively with those of ammonium ions. Dissolved iron exhibits a negative covariance with the concentrations of sulfate. Very low concentrations of nitrate and sulfate and high concent...

As newly formed landscapes evolve, physical and biological changes occur that are collectively known as primary succession. Although succession is a fundamental concept in ecology, it is poorly understood in the context of aquatic environments. The prevailing view is that ...

An electro-coagulation-flotation process has been developed for water treatment. This involved an electrolytic reactor with aluminium electrodes and a separation/flotation tank. The water to be treated passed through the reactor and was subjected to coagulation/flotation, by Al(III) ions dissolved from the electrodes, the resulting flocs floating after being captured by hydrogen gas bubbles generated at cathode surfaces. Apparent current efficiencies for Al dissolution as aqueous Al(III) species at pH 6.5 and 7.8 were greater than unity. This was due to additional reactions occurring in parallel with Al dissolution: oxygen reduction at anodes and cathodes, and hydrogen evolution at cathodes, resulting in net (i.e. oxidation + reduction) currents at both anodes and cathodes. The specific electrical energy consumption of the reactor for drinking water treatment was as low as 20 kWh (kg Al)(-1) for current densities of 10-20A m(-2). The water treatment performance of the electrocoagulation process was found to be superior to that of conventional coagulation with aluminium sulphate for treating a model-coloured water, with 20% more dissolved organic carbon (DOC) being removed for the same Al(III) dose. However, for a lowland surface water sample, the two processes achieved a similar performance for DOC and UV-absorbance removal. In addition, an up-flow electrocoagulator configuration performed better than a horizontal flow configuration, with both bipolar and monopolar electrodes.

The use of numerical models for the design and optimization of UV/H2O2 systems must incorporate both reactor design (hydrodynamics, lamp orientation) and chemical kinetics (reaction mechanisms, kinetic rate constants). This study was conducted to evaluate the performance of comprehensive CFD/UV/AOP models for the degradation of an indicator organic contaminant. The combination of turbulence sub-models, fluence rate sub-models, and kinetic rate equations resulted in a comprehensive and flexible design tool for predicting the effluent chemical composition from a UV-initiated AOP reactor. The CFD model tended to under predict the percent removal of methylene blue compared to pilot reactor trials under the same operating conditions. In addition, the percent difference between the pilot and the CFD results increased with increasing flow rates. The MSSS fluence rate sub-model predicted higher contaminant removal values than the RAD-LSI sub-model while the different two-equation turbulence sub-models did not significantly impact the predicted removal for methylene blue in the tested reactor configuration. The overall degradation of methylene blue was a strong function of the second-order kinetic rate constant describing the reaction between methylene blue and the hydroxyl radical. In addition, the removal of methylene blue was sensitive to the concentration of dissolved organic carbon in the water matrix since DOC acts as a scavenger of hydroxyl radicals.

It has long been assumed that the peat underlying tropical peat swamp forests accumulates because the extreme conditions (water logged, nutrient poor, anaerobic and acidic—pH 2.9–3.5) impede microbial activity. Litterbag studies in a tropical Malaysian peat swamp (North Selangor peat swamp forest) showed that although the sclerophyllous, toxic leaves of endemic peat forest plants (Macaranga pruinosa, Campnosperma coriaceum, Pandanus atrocarpus, Stenochlaena palustris) were barely decomposed by bacteria and fungi (decay rates of only 0.0006–0.0016 k day−1), leaves of M. tanarius, a secondary forest species were almost completely decomposed (decay rates of 0.0047–0.005 k day−1) after 1 year. Thus it is intrinsic properties of the leaves (that are adaptations to deter herbivory in the nutrient poor environment) that impede microbial breakdown. The water of the peat swamp was very high in dissolved organic carbon (70–84 mg l−1 DOC). Laboratory studies revealed initial rapid leaching of DOC from leaves (up to 1,720 mg l−1 from 4 g of leaves in 7 days), but the DOC levels then fell rapidly. The leaching of DOC resulted in weight loss but the physical structure of the leaves remained intact. It is suggested that the DOC is used as a substrate for microbial growth hence lowering the concentration of DOC in the water and transferring energy from the leaves to other trophic levels. This would explain how nutrient poor tropical peatswamps support diverse, abundant flora and fauna despite low nutrient levels and lack of rapid litter cycling such as occurs in other types of tropical rainforests.