Abstract
Fluorescence excitation-emission matrix (EEM) spectroscopy combined with principal component analysis (PCA) and parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) were used to investigate the compositional characteristics of dissolved and particulate/colloidal organic matter and its correlations with nitrogen, phosphorus, and heavy metals in an effluent-dominated stream, Northern China. The results showed that dissolved organic matter (DOM) was comprised of fulvic-like, humic-like, and protein-like components in the water samples, and fulvic-like substances were the main fraction of DOM among them. Particulate/colloidal organic matter (PcOM) consisted of fulvic-like and protein-like matter. Fulvic-like substances existed in the larger molecular form in PcOM, and they comprised a large amount of nitrogen and polar functional groups. On the other hand, protein-like components in PcOM were low in benzene ring and bound to heavy metals. It could be concluded that nitrogen, phosphorus, and heavy metals in effluent had an effect on the compositional characteristics of natural DOM and PcOM, which may deepen our understanding about the environmental behaviors of organic matter in effluent.
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Abbreviations
- EEM:
-
Excitation-emission matrix
- UV-vis:
-
Ultraviolet-visible
- DOM:
-
Dissolved organic matter
- PcOM:
-
Particulate/colloidal organic matter
- PARAFAC:
-
Parallel factor
- PCA:
-
Principal component analysis
- WWTPs:
-
Wastewater treatment plants
- DO:
-
Dissolved oxygen
- NH4 +-N:
-
Ammonium N
- NO3 −-N:
-
Nitrate N
- NO2 −-N:
-
Nitrite N
- TDN:
-
Total dissolved nitrogen
- TDP:
-
Total dissolved phosphorus
- TN:
-
Total nitrogen
- TP:
-
Total phosphorus
- DON:
-
Dissolved organic nitrogen
- PP:
-
Particulate phosphorus
- DOC:
-
Dissolved organic carbon
- PCs:
-
Principal components
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Acknowledgements
This study was supported by the Chinese National Natural Science Funds for Distinguished Young Scholar (No. 51325804), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51408573), and the Scientific Research Foundation of the Higher Education Institutions of Henan Province (No. 16A570001).
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Yu, MD., He, XS., Xi, BD. et al. Investigating the composition characteristics of dissolved and particulate/colloidal organic matter in effluent-dominated stream using fluorescence spectroscopy combined with multivariable analysis. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25, 9132–9144 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-1190-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-1190-4