Characterization of Dissolved Organic Matter in Solar Ponds by Elemental Analysis, Infrared Spectroscopy, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and Pyrolysis–GC–MS

Keli Yang, Yaoling Zhang, Yaping Dong, Jiaoyu Peng, Wu Li and Haining Liu
Additional contact information
Keli Yang: Key Laboratory of Comprehensive and Highly Efficient Utilization of Salt Lake Resources, Qinghai Institute of Salt Lakes, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining 810008, China
Yaoling Zhang: Key Laboratory of Comprehensive and Highly Efficient Utilization of Salt Lake Resources, Qinghai Institute of Salt Lakes, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining 810008, China
Yaping Dong: Key Laboratory of Comprehensive and Highly Efficient Utilization of Salt Lake Resources, Qinghai Institute of Salt Lakes, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining 810008, China
Jiaoyu Peng: Key Laboratory of Comprehensive and Highly Efficient Utilization of Salt Lake Resources, Qinghai Institute of Salt Lakes, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining 810008, China
Wu Li: Key Laboratory of Comprehensive and Highly Efficient Utilization of Salt Lake Resources, Qinghai Institute of Salt Lakes, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining 810008, China
Haining Liu: Key Laboratory of Comprehensive and Highly Efficient Utilization of Salt Lake Resources, Qinghai Institute of Salt Lakes, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining 810008, China

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 15, 1-13

Abstract: The abundance and chemical composition of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in the brine of solar ponds affect the efficiency of mineral extraction and evaporation rates of the brine, and cause undesired odor and color of the products. Here, we report an investigation into the composition and changes of DOM in solar ponds from Salt Lake brine with multiple complementary analysis techniques. The results showed that the DOM derived from Salt Lake brine was primarily composed of carbohydrates, aliphatic and aromatic compounds. The concentrations of dissolved organic carbon in solar ponds increased with exposure time by up to 15−fold (from 23.4 to 330.8 mg/L) upon evaporation/irradiation of Salt Lake brine. Further qualitative analyses suggest that the relative abundance of aliphatic compounds (including functionalized ones) increased from 49.5% to 59.2% in the solar pond process, while the opposite was observed for carboxylic acid moieties, aromatics and carbohydrates, which decreased from 15.7%, 7.1% and 26.1% to 13.4%, 5.3% and 23.0%, respectively. The pyrolysis–gas chromatography–mass spectrometry results reveal that the presence of some sulfur-containing organics implied some anaerobic biotic decay, but microbiological processes were probably subordinate to photo-induced DOM transformations. In the Salt Lake brine, exposure-driven decay decreased the abundance of polysaccharides and increased that of mono- and polyaromatic pyrolysis products. Our results here provide new insights for better understanding the changes of DOM chemical composition in the solar ponds of Salt Lake brine.

Keywords: chemical composition; Salt Lake brine; evaporation; mineral extraction; transformations (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/15/9067/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/15/9067/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:15:p:9067-:d:871408

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().