Dynamic light scattering study of particle size development of humic acids

conference paper

English

Humic acids are ubiquitous natural compounds which play a significant role in transport, binding and biological uptake of different nutrients and contaminants in soil and aquatic environment. It is well known that the structure and conformation of humic particles influence strongly their binding ability as well as transport properties in natural systems. Both are resulting in particle size, which seems as very important parameter of humic function in nature and also their application potential. For the study of behavior of these natural compounds in water solutions the method of dynamic light scattering was used. The main object of the work was the determination of the pH and ionic strength effect on the particle size of different samples of humic acids. The results proved that with increasing concentration of the salt in the solution the particle size of humic acids was increasing. More complex behavior was obtained in the study of pH dependence. The biggest humic particles were determined between pH 8 and 10. With a change of pH value to basic as well as to the acidic area the size of particles was decreasing.

dynamic light scattering, humic acids, particle size, polydispersity index

KALINA, M.; KLUČÁKOVÁ, M.; VĚŽNÍKOVÁ, K.

2012

7. 6. 2012

VŠB-TU Ostrava

Ostrava

978-80-248-2688-2

16th Conference on Environment and Mineral Processing

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97

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