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Changes in the Nature of Sewage Sludge Organic Matter During a Twenty‐One‐Month Incubation
Author(s) -
Smernik Ronald J.,
Oliver Ian W.,
McLaughlin Mike J.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
journal of environmental quality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.888
H-Index - 171
eISSN - 1537-2537
pISSN - 0047-2425
DOI - 10.2134/jeq2004.1924
Subject(s) - organic matter , chemistry , sewage sludge , environmental chemistry , dissolved organic carbon , sewage , carbon 13 nmr , soil water , decomposition , soil organic matter , total organic carbon , environmental science , environmental engineering , soil science , organic chemistry
Six sewage sludges from five sewage treatment plants in Australia were incubated for up to 21 months. Carbon losses at the end of the 21‐mo incubation varied substantially. The remaining organic matter was isolated by treatment with hydrofluoric acid (HF) and characterized using a range of solid‐state 13 C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopic techniques. By every measure (signal distribution in cross polarization [CP] and Bloch decay [BD] spectra, carbon NMR observability determined by spin counting, and the appearance of proton spin relaxation editing subspectra), the chemical composition of the residual organic matter appeared to be little different from that of the original sludges, even for those sludges that experienced the greatest carbon losses. Importantly, these NMR properties distinguish sewage sludge organic matter from soil organic matter. Thus, it should be possible to follow the decomposition of sewage sludge organic matter applied to soils in the field using solid‐state 13 C NMR spectroscopy.