Pharmaceuticals, personal care products and dissolved organic matter (OM) are introduced to soil via irrigation with reclaimed wastewater. This thesis examines the basic factors that influence sorption of these components in soil. Sorption of dissolved OM samples of varying composition to clay surfaces was examined. Results indicate that preferential sorption is dependent on clay type but not necessarily OM composition. Analysis of soils revealed aliphatic components, carbohydrates and amino acids are prevalent at the soil-water interface whereas aromatics are inaccessible at the soil-water interface. No clear relationship between sorption affinity of 17β-estradiol, sulfamethoxazole, carbamazepine and phenanthrene and soil OM aromaticity or aliphaticity was observed. A negative relationship between sorption and O-alkyl content may be due to these components blocking contaminant access to high affinity sorption sites. Therefore, application of reclaimed wastewater to soils with O-alkyl-rich OM may result in higher mobility of contaminants.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TORONTO/oai:tspace.library.utoronto.ca:1807/32244 |
| Date | 21 March 2012 |
| Creators | Hofley, Stephanie Clare |
| Contributors | Simpson, Myrna J. |
| Source Sets | University of Toronto |
| Language | en_ca |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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