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Binding Mechanism Between Fulvic Acid and Heavy Metals: Integrated Interpretation of Binding Experiments, Fraction Characterizations, and Models

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Abstract

In this study, nine fulvic acid fractions (FAs) were obtained by a progressively extracting method from lake sediment and used as adsorbent for binding metal ions. The characterization indicated that former FA fractions had stronger polarity, more O-bearing functional groups, and less aliphaticity. And the results of EEM-PARAFAC indicated that there were four components in FAs, i.e., two humic-like components and two fulvic-like ones. The sorption experiments showed sorption capacity of selected metal ions onto FAs decreased with increasing extractions, and the analysis of binding stability for selected metal ions onto FAs were ranked as FAs-Cu>FAs-Pb>FAs-Cd. For all extracted FAs, the principal component analysis for sorption capacity showed that O-bearing functional groups and molecular weight were dominant factors for FAs binding metal ions. Furthermore, the characterization results of nine FAs pre- and post-adsorption indicated that the phenolic groups of FAs had a greater contribution to bind Pb2+ over than Cd2+ and Cu2+, while carboxyl and N-bearing groups had a stronger affinity for Cu2+ than others. The study has the potential significance to insight the FA and metal ions cycling processes in lakes.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41163006, 41763014, 41003049), the Natural Science Foundation of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China (2015MS0407), and the Natural Science Foundation of Tianjin, China (16JCYBJC43700).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot, 010021, China

    Zhenrui Zhang, Wenjing Shi, Hua Ma, Hao Li, Changwei Lü & Jiang He

  2. School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China

    Zhenrui Zhang

  3. Tianjin Academy of Environmental Sciences, Tianjin, 300191, China

    Bin Zhou

  4. Institute of Environmental Geology, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot, 010021, China

    Changwei Lü & Jiang He

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  1. Zhenrui Zhang
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  2. Wenjing Shi
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  3. Hua Ma
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  4. Bin Zhou
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  5. Hao Li
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Correspondence to Changwei Lü or Jiang He.

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Highlights

1. Former FA fractions had stronger polarity and more O-bearing functional groups.

2. EEM-PARAFAC was employed to character FAs.

3. O-bearing functional groups and molecular weight were dominant factors for FAs binding metal ions.

4. N-bearing groups of FAs had a stronger affinity for Cu2+ than Pb2+ and Cd2+.

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Zhang, Z., Shi, W., Ma, H. et al. Binding Mechanism Between Fulvic Acid and Heavy Metals: Integrated Interpretation of Binding Experiments, Fraction Characterizations, and Models. Water Air Soil Pollut 231, 184 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-020-04558-2

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