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Direct estimation of dissolved organic carbon using synchronous fluorescence and independent component analysis (ICA): advantages of a multivariate calibration

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Abstract

Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) is frequently used as a diagnostic parameter for the identification of environmental contamination in aqueous systems. Since this organic matter is evolving and decaying over time. If samples are collected under environmental conditions, some sample stabilization process is needed until the corresponding analysis can be made. This may affect the analysis results. This problem can be avoided using the direct determination of DOC. We report a study using in situ synchronous fluorescence spectra, with independent component analysis to retrieve relevant major spectral contributions and their respective component contributions, for the direct determination of DOC. Fluorescence spectroscopy is a very powerful and sensitive technique to evaluate vestigial organic matter dissolved in water and is thus suited for the analytical task of direct monitoring of dissolved organic matter in water, thus avoiding the need for the stabilization step. We also report the development of an accurate calibration model for dissolved organic carbon determinations using environmental samples of humic and fulvic acids. The method described opens the opportunity for a fast, in locus, DOC estimation in environmental or other field studies using a portable fluorescence spectrometer. This combines the benefits of the use of fresh samples, without the need of stabilizers, and also allows the interpretation of various additional spectral contributions based on their respective estimated properties. We show how independent component analysis may be used to describe tyrosine, tryptophan, humic acid and fulvic acid spectra and, thus, to retrieve the respective individual component contribution to the DOC.

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Notes

  1. A linear model shows linear dependence with all its parameters, which means that the model partial derivatives with respect to each of its parameters do not depend on any of the model's parameter value.

  2. ICA components are sometimes symmetrical to what we see as a spectral signal, and requiring a sign change operation to rotate by 180°.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the funding from CAPES (BEX 12102/13-0), CNPq (Process 474900 / 2011-8), the Araucaria Foundation (02/2013 PQ/FA - FPT), FINEP (CT-Infra / 2010 and CT-Infra / 2011 by FNDCT Resources, NIPTA subproject), from FCT Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia do Ministério da Educação e Ciência of Portugal (PEst-OE/QUI/UI0313/2014), and the support of the Coimbra Chemistry Centre and Department of Chemistry and Biology/UTFPR.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry and Biology, Federal Technology University of Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil

    Franciane De Almeida Brehm & Julio Cesar R. de Azevedo

  2. Department of Chemistry, University of Coimbra, 3004-535, Coimbra, Portugal

    Jorge da Costa Pereira & Hugh D. Burrows

  3. Rua Deputado Heitor de Alencar Furtado, Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná, n° 4900, Curitiba, Paraná, 81280-340, Brazil

    Julio Cesar R. de Azevedo

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  1. Franciane De Almeida Brehm
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  2. Julio Cesar R. de Azevedo
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Correspondence to Julio Cesar R. de Azevedo.

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De Almeida Brehm, F., de Azevedo, J.C.R., da Costa Pereira, J. et al. Direct estimation of dissolved organic carbon using synchronous fluorescence and independent component analysis (ICA): advantages of a multivariate calibration. Environ Monit Assess 187, 703 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-015-4857-z

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