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Characterization and phenanthrene sorption of organic matter fractions isolated from organic and mineral soils

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Abstract

Sorption of phenanthrene (PHE) to humic acid (HA) and humin (HM) fractions isolated from organic and mineral soils was investigated to better understand sorption processes in varying soil types. Samples were characterized by elemental analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, 13C nuclear magnetic resonance, and CO2 adsorption. No clear correlation was found between the distribution coefficient (Kd) and the bulk polarity of the soil organic matters (SOMs). By contrast, PHE Kd values generally increased with increasing surface polarity of the tested SOMs, implying that surface polarity may play a more important role in PHE sorption than the bulk one. The organic carbon (OC)-normalized Kd values (Koc) of HMs were higher than those of HAs as a result of the higher aliphatic C contents of HMs. For SOMs isolated from mineral soil (MI-SOMs), part of the aliphatic domains may be tightly associated with minerals and were not accessible to PHE molecules, resulting in lower PHE Koc values of MI-SOMs than the corresponding fractions extracted from the organic soil. This study implies that both chemical characteristics and physical conformation of SOMs are paramount considerations when investigating sorption process of hydrophobic organic compounds in soils.

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Funding

This work was supported by the International Cooperation Project of Qinghai Province National Science Foundation (2017-HZ-810), Changjiang Scholar Program and Innovative Research Team Building, MOE (IRT_17R62), Ministry of science and technology key research and development projects (2017YFC0504803), and The National Natural Science Funds Fund (no. 31760691). This study is finished in the State Key Laboratory of Plateau Ecology and Agriculture (Qinghai University), thanks for providing the testing facility and accessories in the laboratory measurements.

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Author notes

  1. Huilan Shi and Shihai Zhu contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Eco-environmental Engineering, Qinghai University, Xining, 810016, Qinghai Province, China

    Huilan Shi, Shihai Zhu, Youming Qiao, Wei Wang & Wenhao Pang

  2. School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

    Wei Wang

  3. College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Qinghai University, Xining, 810016, Qinghai Province, China

    Jianjun Shi

  4. College of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, Qinghai University, Xining, 810016, Qinghai Province, China

    Xilai Li

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  1. Huilan Shi
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  4. Wei Wang
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Correspondence to Huilan Shi.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

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Shi, H., Zhu, S., Qiao, Y. et al. Characterization and phenanthrene sorption of organic matter fractions isolated from organic and mineral soils. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25, 15971–15979 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-1814-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-1814-8

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