Influence of pH on Organic and Inorganic Colloids in Stormwater

Urban runoff usually contains significant amounts of organic and inorganic colloidal particles. Due to their high surface area and associated surface charges, these colloidal particles become a strong binding site and carriers for many contaminants found in the runoff. This paper presents a study on the physicochemical properties and behaviors of organic colloidal particles found in urban runoff under different simulated pH conditions. Four optical characterization techniques, namely (1) UV spectroscopy; (2) fluorescence spectroscopy; (3) size-exclusion chromatography with UV detector and (4) dynamic light scattering were used to examine and evaluate the colloidal properties and their behaviors. It was found that the colloidal particles under both acidic and alkaline conditions exhibited a distinct bimodal characteristic in particle-size distribution. Parallel interpretation of the four optical characterization results revealed that the influence of pH on the colloidal particles were more prominent at alkaline conditions, where an enormous growth of larger colloidal particles was observed as a result of aggregation and/or dissolution of humics and fulvic-type substances as well as biopolymers and their precursors. Results showed that the colloidal particles behave differently under acidic, neutral and alkaline conditions. This has an important implication on the water quality and immediate water treatment processes are required.

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