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Strong hg(II) complexation in municipal wastewater effluent and surface waters.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Hsu, H; Sedlak, DL
Published in: Environmental science & technology
June 2003

The speciation of mercury(II) in the aquatic environment is greatly affected by the presence of ligands capable of forming extremely strong complexes with Hg(II). In this study, a novel competitive ligand exchange (CLE) technique was used to characterize Hg(II)-complexing ligands in samples collected from three municipal wastewater treatment plants, a eutrophic lake, a creek located downstream of an abandoned mercury mine, and a model water containing dissolved Suwannee River humic acid. These samples contained 3.3-15.9 mg/L dissolved organic carbon and were amended with 1.0-1.7 nM Hg(II) for CLE analysis. Results indicated that all samples contained labile Hg(II)-complexing ligands with conditional stability constants similar to those of reduced sulfur-containing ligands. Two wastewater effluent samples also contained approximately 0.5 nM of ligands that formed extremely strong Hg(II) complexes that did not dissociate in the presence of competing ligands. The conditional stability constant of these extremely strong or nonlabile complexes (i.e., (c)K(HgL)) were estimated to be greater than 10(30), for the reaction Hg(2+) + L' = HgL. The third wastewater sample and the eutrophic lake sample contained lower concentrations, 0.07-0.09 nM, of nonlabile Hg(II)-complexing ligands. The results suggested that these extremely strong Hg(ll)-complexing ligands should account for most of the dissolved Hg(II) species in municipal wastewater effluent and may dominate Hg(II) speciation in effluent-receiving waters.

Duke Scholars

Published In

Environmental science & technology

DOI

EISSN

1520-5851

ISSN

0013-936X

Publication Date

June 2003

Volume

37

Issue

12

Start / End Page

2743 / 2749

Related Subject Headings

  • Water Pollutants, Chemical
  • Water
  • Waste Disposal, Fluid
  • Mercury
  • Ligands
  • Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions
  • Humic Substances
  • Glutathione
  • Environmental Sciences
  • Ditiocarb
 

Citation

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Hsu, H., & Sedlak, D. L. (2003). Strong hg(II) complexation in municipal wastewater effluent and surface waters. Environmental Science & Technology, 37(12), 2743–2749. https://doi.org/10.1021/es026438b
Hsu, Heileen, and David L. Sedlak. “Strong hg(II) complexation in municipal wastewater effluent and surface waters.Environmental Science & Technology 37, no. 12 (June 2003): 2743–49. https://doi.org/10.1021/es026438b.
Hsu H, Sedlak DL. Strong hg(II) complexation in municipal wastewater effluent and surface waters. Environmental science & technology. 2003 Jun;37(12):2743–9.
Hsu, Heileen, and David L. Sedlak. “Strong hg(II) complexation in municipal wastewater effluent and surface waters.Environmental Science & Technology, vol. 37, no. 12, June 2003, pp. 2743–49. Epmc, doi:10.1021/es026438b.
Hsu H, Sedlak DL. Strong hg(II) complexation in municipal wastewater effluent and surface waters. Environmental science & technology. 2003 Jun;37(12):2743–2749.
Journal cover image

Published In

Environmental science & technology

DOI

EISSN

1520-5851

ISSN

0013-936X

Publication Date

June 2003

Volume

37

Issue

12

Start / End Page

2743 / 2749

Related Subject Headings

  • Water Pollutants, Chemical
  • Water
  • Waste Disposal, Fluid
  • Mercury
  • Ligands
  • Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions
  • Humic Substances
  • Glutathione
  • Environmental Sciences
  • Ditiocarb