Insight into complexation of Cu(II) to hyperthermophilic compost-derived humic acids by EEM-PARAFAC combined with heterospectral two dimensional correlation analyses

Jia Tang; Li Zhuang; Zhen Yu; Xiaoming Liu; Yueqiang Wang; Ping Wen; Shungui Zhou

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.11.357

Insight into complexation of Cu(II) to hyperthermophilic compost-derived humic acids by EEM-PARAFAC combined with heterospectral two dimensional correlation analyses

Sci Total Environ. 2019 Mar 15:656:29-38. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.11.357. Epub 2018 Nov 26.

Authors

Jia Tang¹, Li Zhuang², Zhen Yu³, Xiaoming Liu¹, Yueqiang Wang¹, Ping Wen⁴, Shungui Zhou⁵

Affiliations

¹ Guangdong Key Laboratory of Integrated Agro-environmental Pollution Control and Management, Guangdong Institute of Eco-environmental Science & Technology, Guangzhou 510650, China.
² Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution and Health, School of Environment, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China.
³ Guangdong Key Laboratory of Integrated Agro-environmental Pollution Control and Management, Guangdong Institute of Eco-environmental Science & Technology, Guangzhou 510650, China. Electronic address: yuzhen@soil.gd.cn.
⁴ Guangdong Key Laboratory of Integrated Agro-environmental Pollution Control and Management, Guangdong Institute of Eco-environmental Science & Technology, Guangzhou 510650, China; Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Soil Environmental Health and Regulation, College of Resources and Environment, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China.
⁵ Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Soil Environmental Health and Regulation, College of Resources and Environment, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China.

PMID: 30502732
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.11.357

Abstract

Hyperthermophilic composting has been demonstrated to overcome the disadvantages of conventional composting in products with better quality. However, the complexation of heavy metals to hyperthermophilic compost (HTC)-derived HA remains unclear. In the present work, using Cu(II) as the representative heavy metal, we investigated the binding process of Cu(II) to HAs derived from HTC, thermophilic compost (TC), and sewage sludge (SS). The complexation ability of three HAs was analyzed by the method of parallel factor (PARAFAC) coupled with hetero two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy (hetero-2DCOS) analyses. Results showed that HTC-derived HA has the greater complexation ability (log K_M = 5.68, CC_M = 1.21) than both TC-derived HA (log K_M = 5.27, CC_M = 0.94) and SS-derived HA (log K_M = 5.19, CC_M = 0.586), likely due to the higher humification degree, as well as the faster response of carboxyl and phenols to Cu(II) binding with HTC-derived HA. This study demonstrated that the utilization of HTC might provide an effective approach for remediation of Cu(II)-polluted soils. Moreover, PARAFAC analysis integrated with hetero-2DCOS offers a unique insight into understanding the correlation between HAs fractions and functional groups during the Cu(II) binding process.

Keywords: Cu(II) complexation; EEM-PARAFAC; Hetero-2DCOS; Humic acids; Hyperthermophilic compost.