Quantitative characterization of Cu binding potential of dissolved organic matter in wastewater of mining area

In order to study the influence of the two wastewaters on the environmental behavior of heavy metals, a titration experiment was adopted to quantitatively characterize the interaction between Cu and DOM in mine water and domestic wastewater in a mining area using an ion-selective electrode and fluorescence quenching technology. The results showed that the Cu ion-selective electrode accurately characterized the complex capacity of DOM for Cu (II). The mine water had a high complex capacity for Cu, which accounted for 163.9 mg/g, whereas the domestic wastewater had a low complex capacity, which was only 72.6 mg/g. The fluorescence quenching results provided information about the bond characterization of different components of DOM for Cu. The fulvic acid matters (peak A) in mine water had a high complex capacity, whereas the complex capacity of protein matter components in domestic wastewater was relative low. The change in Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) implied that the reaction mechanism between humic matters in mine water and Cu was a chemical reaction, however, the reaction mechanism between protein matters in domestic wastewater and Cu may be only physical adsorption. The carboxylic and hydroxyl groups in humic matters were the major active sites for combining Cu, while the functional group in protein was not active in the reaction with Cu (II).