Abstract
It is not only Total Organic Carbon content (TOC) but also the type of Organic Matter (OM) that the sorption of organic pollutants by soils or other natural absorbents is correlated with. Therefore, the characterization of organic components in the adsorbents is very important to elucidate sorption mechanisms.Oil shale samples were collected in Pula, Hungary. The TOC content of the investigated samples was approximately 6.8-40.1 m/m %. The characterization of the organic matter in samples was carried out by using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), elemental analysis, thermal analysis, and GC-MS technics. The results predominantly indicated the presence of a low degree of the branching of aliphatic chain components in the samples. The Humic Substances (HS) content of the samples was only 1-6 m/m %, which could be determined after the treatment of oil shale with hydrogen peroxide.The influence of the amount and type of organic material in oil shale samples was studied on the adsorption of 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP) as a model contaminant. For this aim a series of batch equilibration experiments was carried out. The results show that the total organic carbon content of samples is a strong indicator of 2,4-DCP adsorption, while the HS content is an important feature controlling sorption capacity. The study suggests that the special organic matter (kerogen) content of the oil shale plays a major role in its high adsorption capacity and in the nonlinearity of the isotherms. The HS covering the surface could decrease the sorption capacities despite the fact that though the amount of this organic material is quite low.
Highlights
Oil shale sources are located in several places of the Carpathian Basin, and especially large amounts can be found in the Hungarian mines in the Pannonian lakes system.The shale originated 3-4 million years ago from the biomass of algae genus Botryococcus braunii, which accumulated in the volcanic craters
The results show that the total organic carbon content of samples is a strong indicator of 2,4-DCP adsorption, while the Humic Substances (HS) content is an important feature controlling sorption capacity
The cell contents have been degraded during the first steps of sedimentation; the outer walls composed of Polymer Resistant Botryococcus (PRB) survived diagenesis without significant morphological alteration
Summary
The shale originated 3-4 million years ago from the biomass of algae genus Botryococcus braunii, which accumulated in the volcanic craters. This fine-grained algaebased sedimentary rock contains large amounts of organic matter, clay volcanic ash, and calcium carbonate [1]. The Natural Organic Matter (NOM) of oil shale is one of the most important components in the sorption of organic pollutants that strongly influences the solubility, the fate of contaminants and their adsorption. The sorption by shale correlates with the total organic material content. It has been found in many studies that organic substances can increase the sorption of pollutants that depends on the type of organic matter. The characterization of geochemically heterogeneous organic matter is very important in the explanation of the sorption mechanisms [3]
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