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The degradation of acetaldehyde in estuary waters in Southern California, USA

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Abstract

Acetaldehyde plays an important role in oxidative cycles in the troposphere. Estimates of its air-water flux are important in global models. Biological degradation is believed to be the dominant loss process in water, but there have been few measurements, none in estuaries. Acetaldehyde degradation rates were measured in surface waters at the inflow to the Upper Newport Back Bay estuary in Orange County, Southern California, USA, over a 6-month period including the rainy winter season. Deuterated acetaldehyde was added to filtered and unfiltered water samples incubated in glass syringes, and its loss analyzed by purge and trap gas chromatography mass spectrometry. Filtered samples showed no significant degradation, suggesting that particle-mediated degradation is the dominant removal process. Correlation between measured degradation rate constants in unfiltered incubations and bacteria counts suggests the loss is due to microorganisms. Degradation in unfiltered samples followed first-order kinetics, with rate constants ranging from 0.0006 to 0.025 min-1 (k; average 0.0043 ± 0.006 min-1). Turnover (1/k) ranged from 40 to 1667 min, consistent with prior studies in coastal waters. Acetaldehyde concentrations in the estuary are estimated to range from 30 to ~500 nM (average ~250 nM). Results suggest the estuary is a source of acetaldehyde to the atmosphere.

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Data and materials availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the National Science Foundation (OCE # 1233091; CHE #1337396) for funding this work. AWH is supported by a fellowship from the Grand Challenges Initiative at Chapman University. The authors thank Anthony Castagnola and Brandon Lamb for assistance with sampling and measurements.

Funding

This work is supported by the National Science Foundation (OCE # 1233091; CHE #1337396). Funds from this funding body provided materials and supplies for the measurements and salary support for students who worked on this project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Schmid College of Science and Technology, Chapman University, One University Drive, Orange, CA, 98266, USA

    Warren J. de Bruyn, Aaron W. Harrison, Mary Senstad & Sovanndara Hok

  2. Department of Chemistry, College of Science and Engineering, Western Washington University, 516 High Street, Bellingham, WA, 98225, USA

    Catherine D. Clark

Authors
  1. Warren J. de Bruyn
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  2. Catherine D. Clark
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  3. Aaron W. Harrison
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  4. Mary Senstad
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  5. Sovanndara Hok
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Contributions

MS and SH collected samples and made the measurements. AWH performed data analysis and contributed to the writing of the manuscript. WDB and CDC obtained funding to support the work, supervised the project, analyzed data and wrote the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Catherine D. Clark.

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de Bruyn, W.J., Clark, C.D., Harrison, A.W. et al. The degradation of acetaldehyde in estuary waters in Southern California, USA. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 35811–35821 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-13232-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-13232-x

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