The association of poorly crystalline iron (hydr)oxides with organic matter (OM), such as extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), exerts a profound effect on Fe and C cycles in soils and sediments, and their behaviors under sulfate-reducing conditions involve complicated mineralogical transformations. However, how different loadings and types of EPS and water chemistry conditions affect the sulfidation still lacks quantitative and systematic investigation. We here synthesized a set of ferrihydrite-organic matter (Fh-OM) coprecipitates with various model compounds for plant and microbial exopolysaccharides (polygalacturonic acids, alginic acid, and xanthan gum) and bacteriogenic EPS (extracted from ).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDespite of the extensive research in semiconductor photocatalysis with respect to material and device innovations, much of the fundamental aquatic chemistry of those new materials that governs their environmental hazard and implications remains poorly understood. BiVO has long been recognized as a promising visible-light-responsive photocatalyst. However, the solubility product (K) of BiVO and the mechanistic understanding of the non-stoichiometric dissolution of BiVO remain unclear.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAdsorption of uranium onto goethite is an important partitioning process that controls uranium mobility in subsurface environments, for which many different surface complexation models (SCMs) have been developed. While individual models can fit the data for which they are parameterized, many perform poorly when compared with experimental data covering a broader range of conditions. There is an imperative need to quantitatively evaluate the variations in the models and to develop a more robust model that can be used with more confidence across the wide range of conditions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFReduction of U(VI) to U(IV) drastically reduces its solubility and has been proposed as a method for remediation of uranium contamination. However, much is still unknown about the kinetics, mechanisms, and products of U(VI) bioreduction in complex systems. In this study, U(VI) bioreduction experiments were conducted with strain CN32 in the presence of clay minerals and two organic ligands: citrate and EDTA.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnviron Sci Technol
November 2020
Dissolved Mn(III) species have been recognized as a significant form of Mn in redox transition environments, but a holistic understanding of their geochemical properties still lacks the characterization of their reactivity as reductants. Through using PbO as a surrogate oxidant and pyrophosphate (PP) as a model ligand, we evaluated the thermodynamic and kinetic constrains of dissolved Mn(III) oxidation under environmentally relevant pH. Without disproportionation, Mn(III) complexes could be directly oxidized by PbO to produce Mn oxides.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe interactions between organic ligands, Fe(II), and iron oxides are important in biogeochemical redox processes. The effect of phthalic acid (PHA) on the reductive reactivity of Fe(II) associated with goethite was examined using batch adsorption and kinetic studies, attenuated total reflectance?Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR?FTIR), and surface complexation modeling (SCM). PHA significantly inhibited the reductive reactivity of Fe(II)/goethite, as quantified by the pseudo-first-order reduction rate constants ( k) of p-cyanonitrobenzene.
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