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Fluorescence Analysis of Natural Organic Matter Fractionated by Ultrafiltration: Contrasting Between Urban-Impacted Water, and Radio-Contaminated Water from a Near-Pristine Site

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Abstract

Aqueous natural organic matter (NOM) impacted by two contrasting human impacts was analyzed using by multiresponse fluorescence, decoupled with the resolution routine PARAFAC. The first site is Chalk River, Ontario, Canada, near a pit formerly used to dispose low-level wastes. The second site is the Grand River in Cambridge, south-central Ontario, which is impacted by urban activities and agriculture. Our analysis included raw water, plus fractions from ultrafiltration and solid-phase extraction (SPE). The fluorescence spectra of the NOM, resolved with PARAFAC, showed three common features: humic-like components, at excitation/emission wavelengths 325–350/450–475 nm, fulvic-like components at 325/380–420 nm and protein-like components, at 275/300 nm. Ultrafiltration revealed that most of the NOM comprised fine material below 5,000 Da cut-off (<4% of the total) in the urban-impacted sites and the clean site at Chalk River, but the colloidal fraction (larger than 5,000 Da) was substantially higher in the contaminated water, with ∼18–26% of the total. The protein-like components in the contaminated Chalk River water were affected by ultrafiltration, but less so in the clean Chalk River sample and the urban-impacted waters. SPE preferentially removed the protein-like component in the contaminated Chalk River water (typically 89–95% signal decrease), but had a limited effect on humic- and fulvic-like components elsewhere. In conclusion, multiresponse fluorescence provided new information on the NOM quality from two contrasting sites, aided by ultrafiltration and SPE. These results are consistent with the in situ production of NOM in the Chalk River contaminated site, and natural production at the other sites.

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Notes

  1. One Dalton unit is equivalent to one atomic mass unit (amu). It is used in ultrafiltration to determine the approximate size of macromolecules for which a rigorous molecular mass is inappropriate.

  2. The term 5 kDa stands for 5,000 Daltons, and NWCO stands for Nominal Weight Cut-Off. NWCO is implied after the Da term and it will be omitted henceforth.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Atomic Energy of Canada Limited for site access, especially D. Killey and S. Welch for sampling support. P. Guerin and S. Smith (Laurentian University) have also helped for the field sampling and sample processing. The authors thank S. Siemann (Laurentian University) for insights on protein fluorescence. F. Caron is particularly grateful to D.S. Smith for his support during the first author’s sabbatical, A. Szabo (Wilfrid Laurier University) for instrument use, S. DePalma (Chemistry Department) and other support by Wilfrid Laurier University. Financial support by Laurentian University came from the Faculty’s Research Funds (LURF), Professional Allowance, and Work Study Program. Subsidy by the Ontario Ministry of Northern Development and Mines (NMDM) is acknowledged.

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  1. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario, P3E 2C6, Canada

    François Caron

  2. Department of Chemistry, Wilfrid Laurier University, 75 University Avenue West, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 3C5, Canada

    D. Scott Smith

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  1. François Caron
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Correspondence to François Caron.

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Caron, F., Smith, D.S. Fluorescence Analysis of Natural Organic Matter Fractionated by Ultrafiltration: Contrasting Between Urban-Impacted Water, and Radio-Contaminated Water from a Near-Pristine Site. Water Air Soil Pollut 214, 471–490 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-010-0439-4

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