Variation in humic and fulvic acids during thermal sludge treatment assessed by size fractionation, elementary analysis, and spectroscopic methods

doi:10.1007/s11783-014-0755-9

Front. Environ. Sci. Eng.

2014, Vol. 8

Issue (6) : 854-862 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-014-0755-9

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Variation in humic and fulvic acids during thermal sludge treatment assessed by size fractionation, elementary analysis, and spectroscopic methods

Yuning YANG^1,²,Huan LI^1,^*(

),Jinyi LI¹

1. Key Laboratory of Microorganism Application and Risk Control of Shenzhen, Graduate School at Shenzhen, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518055, China
2. Joint Research Center of Urban Resource Recycling Technology of Graduate School at Shenzhen, Tsinghua University and Shenzhen Green Eco-Manufacturer High-Tech Co. Ltd., Shenzhen 518055, China

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Abstract

Thermal pretreatment can be applied to sludge anaerobic digestion or dewatering. To analyze the variation in humic substances during thermal sludge treatment, sludge humic and fulvic acids were extracted before and after 30-min thermal treatment at 180°C, and then their contents, molecular weight distributions, elementary compositions, and spectral characteristics were compared. The results showed that the total contents of humic and fulvic acids in the sludge almost remained constant during thermal treatment, but 35% of humic and fulvic acids were dissolved from the sludge solids. Moreover, both humic and fulvic acids were partly decomposed and 32% of humic acids were converted to fulvic acids. The median value of the molecular weights of humic acids decreased from 81 to 41 kDa and that of fulvic acids decreased from 15 to 2 kDa. Besides the reduction in molecular size, the chemical structures of humic and fulvic acids also exhibited a slight change, i.e. some oxygen functional groups disappeared and aromatic structures increased after thermal sludge treatment.

Keywords sludge thermal treatment humic acids fulvic acids

Corresponding Author(s): Huan LI

Issue Date: 17 November 2014

Cite this article:

Yuning YANG,Huan LI,Jinyi LI. Variation in humic and fulvic acids during thermal sludge treatment assessed by size fractionation, elementary analysis, and spectroscopic methods[J]. Front. Environ. Sci. Eng., 2014, 8(6): 854-862.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/10.1007/s11783-014-0755-9
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/Y2014/V8/I6/854

Tab.1 Distribution of HAs and FAs in the DIS and TTS

Fig.1 Distributions of HAs and FAs in different MW intervals according to their TOC contents (DIS: digested sludge; TTS: thermally treated sludge): (a) HA-DIS; (b) FA-DIS; (c) HA-TTS; (d) FA-TTS; (e) HA in supernatant of TTS; (f) FA in supernatant of TTS

Tab.2 Elementary contents of HAs and FAs in the DIS and TTS

Fig.2 FTIR spectra of HAs and FAs derived from the DIS and TTS

Fig.3 Fluorescence spectra of FAs derived from the DIS and TTS

Fig.4 Fluorescence spectra of HAs derived from the DIS and TTS

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