Barrier properties of humic acids

abstract

English

Humic acids are recognized as a component of natural organic matter that plays a key role in such issues as global warming, carbon cycle in the nature or self-detoxification of soils and sediments. The ability of soils and sediments to reduce the mobility of chemical pollutants or even to immobilize them represents their important natural feature. They affect biological uptake and bioaccumulation of toxic chemicals in plants as well as the pollution of the underground water supplies. In natural systems, humic acids can bind contaminating pollutants and in this way they influence the effectiveness of the regeneration and purification processes in these systems. The reactivity and transport properties of metal ions in humic systems are important for understanding the role of humic substances in both natural systems and human-driven applications. The coupling between structure, reactivity and diffusion properties is essential for the functionality of humic substances and other biomaterials in nature. It is well known that the reactivity of humic acids is strongly affected by the presence and strength of carboxylic groups. Our previous works has demonstrated the effectiveness of the method of diffusion cells in transport and immobilization studies. It was shown that transport of pollutants in humic gels is strongly influenced by reactivity of humic acids, therefore changes in the content of functional groups result in changes of diffusivity. This can be essential for description of their effects on nature, especially on the living organisms. Diversity in binding ability of a natural system can be assigned to its complex nature. Different natural constituents have a different ability to reduce mobility or even to immobilize pollutants. In this work, the method was further developed to the level of the diffusion through agarose hydrogel containing humic acids as the immobilization agent.

humic acids; dyes; metal ions; transport; immobilization

KLUČÁKOVÁ, M.

26. 6. 2018

University of Split

Split

30

32

3