TY - JOUR
T1 - Determination of free nickel Ion concentrations using the ion exchange technique
T2 - Application to aqueous mining and municipal effluents
AU - Gopalapillai, Yamini
AU - Fasfous, Ismail I.
AU - Murimboh, John D.
AU - Yapici, Tahir
AU - Chakraborty, Parthasarathi
AU - Chakrabarti, Chuni L.
PY - 2008/3/1
Y1 - 2008/3/1
N2 - Free metal ion concentration is generally considered a useful indicator of a metal's bioavailability and ecotoxicity to aquatic biota. This article reports the speciation of nickel in mining and municipal effluents from Sudbury (Ontario, Canada), and also in model solutions containing a fully characterized laurentian fulvic acid (LFA) at environmentally relevant concentrations. A column ion exchange technique (IET) using a cation exchange resin (Dowex 50W-X8) was applied to determine free nickel ion concentrations. In model solutions, reasonable correlation was found between the predictions of an equilibrium-based computer speciation code, Windermere Humic Aqueous Model (WHAM) VI, and the results obtained by IET at low nickel-to-fulvic acid ratios. However at higher mole ratios, the WHAM VI predicted higher free nickel ion concentrations than IET. Only three out of six effluent samples showed reasonable agreement between the IET and the WHAM VI results, indicating the need for further development of IET for application to effluent waters.
AB - Free metal ion concentration is generally considered a useful indicator of a metal's bioavailability and ecotoxicity to aquatic biota. This article reports the speciation of nickel in mining and municipal effluents from Sudbury (Ontario, Canada), and also in model solutions containing a fully characterized laurentian fulvic acid (LFA) at environmentally relevant concentrations. A column ion exchange technique (IET) using a cation exchange resin (Dowex 50W-X8) was applied to determine free nickel ion concentrations. In model solutions, reasonable correlation was found between the predictions of an equilibrium-based computer speciation code, Windermere Humic Aqueous Model (WHAM) VI, and the results obtained by IET at low nickel-to-fulvic acid ratios. However at higher mole ratios, the WHAM VI predicted higher free nickel ion concentrations than IET. Only three out of six effluent samples showed reasonable agreement between the IET and the WHAM VI results, indicating the need for further development of IET for application to effluent waters.
KW - Bioavailability
KW - Dissolved organic carbon
KW - Free metal ion
KW - Ion exchange technique
KW - Mine effluent
KW - Nickel speciation
KW - WHAMVI
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=42649109030&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10498-008-9027-2
DO - 10.1007/s10498-008-9027-2
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:42649109030
SN - 1380-6165
VL - 14
SP - 99
EP - 116
JO - Aquatic Geochemistry
JF - Aquatic Geochemistry
IS - 2
ER -