A noninvasive method using fluorescence quenching (FQ) to determine the conditional stability constants (logK') for aluminum with naturally occurring organic ligands has been developed. The method utilizes the Stern-Volmer equation to interpret data from ligand fluorescence suppression by aluminum. The total ligand concentration can also be determined using the measured stability constant and the Ryan-Weber equation. The method has been validated with the model ligand salicylic acid; logK' was found to be 3.5 ± 0.01 vs. 4.0 from the literature. The method was applied to the reference ligand Armadale fulvic acid and chemically realistic values were obtained. In addition, the expected trend of increasing stability constant with decreasing pH was observed. The method was further validated by determining the stability constant for Armadale fulvic acid using an independent technique, PCV colourimetry; the results agreed very well logK' = 4.7 vs. 4.65 for FQ analysis. Application of the method to whole filtered beaver pond water showed an increasing trend in the stability constant as the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) decreased. The Log of the stability constants were 3.15 ± 0.03, 3.26 ± 0.03, and 3.63 ± 0.02 for DOC concentrations 23, 14, and 10 ppm respectively. The method was also applied to size fractionated waters form lake Skjervatjern in Norway and the expected trend of increasing stability constant with increasing molecular weight was observed.

Bachelor of Science (BSc)

Thesis