P. Matúš - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by P. Matúš
The utilization of chelating ion exchange by the method based on binding strength and kinetic dis... more The utilization of chelating ion exchange by the method based on binding strength and kinetic discrimination was studied for aluminium speciation in natural waters. Two chelating ion exchangers Iontosorb Oxin and Iontosorb Salicyl, cellulose resins containing covalently bound 8-hydroxyquinoline and salicylic acid functional groups, were used for the determination of reactive aluminium by batch technique. For detection of aluminium species flame atomic absorption spectrometry was used.
Acta Physica Polonica A
Amorphous glass with nominal chemical composition Fe51Co12Si16B8Mo5P8 was studied by combination ... more Amorphous glass with nominal chemical composition Fe51Co12Si16B8Mo5P8 was studied by combination of the Mössbauer spectroscopy and magnetic measurements in order to characterize magnetic and structural features. Temperature evolution of the Mössbauer spectra revealed presence of broad distribution of hyperfine magnetic field at lower temperatures which vanishes with increase of temperature. The Curie temperature estimated from the Mössbauer spectroscopy experiments is TC ≈ 392 K. This value is in a good agreement with that obtained by magnetic measurements (TC = 397 K). The Mössbauer spectroscopy spectra of the sample annealed at 823 K revealed a presence of crystalline components. This temperature is notably lower than the expected temperature of the onset of crystallization observed by differential scanning calorimetry (≈ 835 K).
Chemicke Listy
Application of selected separation techniques and obtained total Hg concentrations in studied pla... more Application of selected separation techniques and obtained total Hg concentrations in studied plant species indicate relatively low Hg phytoavailability in studied soils. Calculated separation yields for applied separation techniques were in many cases comparable with soil-plant transfer recovery values for studied plant species. Distribution of Hg in roots of studied root vegetables showed the tendency of increasing amount of Hg from basal towards terminal part of root.
Fresenius Environmental Bulletin
Accumulation of Sb(III) as antimonyl tartrate by Aspergillus niger strain was examined. The pH va... more Accumulation of Sb(III) as antimonyl tartrate by Aspergillus niger strain was examined. The pH value of both antimony-free and antimony supplemented culture media declined in the first five days to extremely acidic region (approximately pH 2) and did not change during the rest of cultivation period. There were no statistically significant, microbially mediated changes in pH of broth media supplemented with Sb(III) when compared to antimony-free control. While the biomass yield of antimony supplemented culture media (upto 100 mg.L-1) during the exponential growth phase was identical to the antimony-free control, antimonyl tartrate however, had beneficial effect on fungal growth during the stationary growth phase. According to antimony accumulation results, A. niger strain efficiently reduced the uptake and enhanced the efflux of antimony during the first week of cultivation though later uptake of antimony was enhanced. The results indicate a relationship between the amount of antimon...
This study investigates the relationship between soil water repellency (SWR), soil temperature an... more This study investigates the relationship between soil water repellency (SWR), soil temperature and some physical and chemical characteristics of soils belonging to five reference soil groups in the area of White Carpathian Mts. and Myjavská pahorkatina Upland. Samples (0-20 cm) were collected from forest soils exhibiting some degree of water repellency. Persistence of SWR was measured by commonly used water drop penetration time (WDPT) test and the severity of SWR by molarity of an ethanol droplet (MED) test A heating experiment was designed in order to simulate conditions that normally occur in nature and are favourable for the change of SWR in soils. From the results it follows that heating at 50 °C for the first three days caused in most soils a gradual decrease in MED values. Initial MED values were re-established only after soil heating at 150 °C. This means that input of thermal energy was necessary to re-organize organic molecules causing SWR. In terms of comparison the MED v...
International Journal of Phytoremediation, 2015
Heavy metal phytotoxicity assessments usually use soluble metal compounds in spiked soils to eval... more Heavy metal phytotoxicity assessments usually use soluble metal compounds in spiked soils to evaluate metal bioaccumulation, growth inhibition and adverse effects on physiological parameters. However, exampling mercury phytotoxicity for barley (Hordeum vulgare) this paper highlights unsuitability of this experimental approach. Mercury(II) in spiked soils is extremely bioavailable, and there experimentally determined bioaccumulation is significantly higher compared to reported mercury bioaccumulation efficiency from soils collected from mercury-polluted areas. Our results indicate this is not affected by soil sorption capacity, thus soil ageing and formation of more stable mercuric complexes with soil fractions is necessary for reasonable metal phytotoxicity assessments.
Journal of Alloys and Compounds, 2015
Archives of environmental contamination and toxicology, 2015
As with many metals, bismuth can be accumulated or transformed by microorganisms. These interacti... more As with many metals, bismuth can be accumulated or transformed by microorganisms. These interactions affect microbial consortia and bismuth environmental behaviour, mobility, and toxicity. Recent research focused specifically on bismuth anaerobic transformation by bacteria and archaea has inspired the evaluation of the mutual interactions between bismuth and filamentous fungi as presented in this article. The Aspergillus clavatus fungus proved resistant to adverse effects from bismuth contamination in culture medium with up to a concentration of 195 µmol L(-1) during static 15- and 30-day cultivation. The examined resistance mechanism includes biosorption to the fungal surface and biovolatilization. Pelletized fungal biomass has shown high affinity for dissolved bismuth(III). Bismuth biosorption was rapid, reaching equilibrium after 50 min with a 0.35 mmol g(-1) maximum sorption capacity as calculated from the Langmuir isotherm. A. clavatus accumulated ≤70 µmol g(-1) of bismuth afte...
Water, Air, & Soil Pollution, 2014
ABSTRACT Mutual sorption interactions between heavy metals, humic acids and fungi were evaluated ... more ABSTRACT Mutual sorption interactions between heavy metals, humic acids and fungi were evaluated in this article. While the relative amount of sorbed As(V), Sb(III) and Pb(II) slightly decreased or remained unchanged, the sorption capacity of Zn(II) increased significantly with increasing amounts of immobilized humic acids in the Ca-alginate beads. Therefore, zinc is most likely preferentially sorbed to functional groups provided by humic acids rather than carboxyl or hydroxyl groups of alginate, with an optimum pH for uptake between 4 and 6. Nevertheless, the removal efficiency of metal(loid)s by unmodified Ca-alginate beads or those with humic acids modification was highest for Pb(II), at up to 93.5 %. The pH value also affects humic acids sorption properties on microbial surfaces. While the highest humic acids sorption capacity of mycelial pellets prepared from Aspergillus niger occurred at pH 8.5 (231 mg g−1), the pelletized Aspergillus clavatus biomass was more effective in acidic solution and 199 mg g−1 was recorded there at pH 5.5. The effect of mutual interactions between humic acids and mycelial pellets on Zn(II) immobilization indicates that zinc affinity is higher for the fungal surface than for humic acids which do not supply sufficient active sorption sites for zinc. This resulted in less sorption capacity of the mycelial pellets modified with humic acids compared to the unmodified biomass.
Letters in Applied Microbiology, 2014
Biovolatilization and bioaccumulation capabilities of different elements by microscopic filamento... more Biovolatilization and bioaccumulation capabilities of different elements by microscopic filamentous fungus Scopulariopsis brevicaulis were observed. Accumulation of As(III), As(V), Se(IV), Se(VI), Sb(III), Sb(V), Te(IV), Te(VI), Hg(II), Tl(I) and Bi(III) by S. brevicaulis was quantified by analysing the amount of elements in biomass of the fungus using ICP AAS. The highest amounts of bioaccumulated metal(loid)s were obtained as follows: Bi(III) > Te(IV) > Hg(II) > Se(IV) > Te(VI) > Sb(III) at different initial contents, with Bi(III) accumulation approximately 87%. The highest percentages of volatilization were found using Hg(II) (50%) and Se(IV) (46·5%); it was also demonstrated with all studied elements. This proved the biovolatilization ability of microscopic fungi under aerobic conditions. The highest removed amount was observed using Hg(II) (95·30%), and more than 80% of Se(IV), Te(IV), Bi(III) and Hg(II) was removed by bioaccumulation and biovolatilization, which implies the possibilities of use of these processes for bioremediations. There were reported significant differences between bioaccumulation and biovolatilization of almost all applied metal(loid)s if valence is mentioned. Microbial accumulation and volatilization are natural processes involved in biogeochemical cycles of elements. Despite their impact on mobility, bioavailability and toxicity of various metal(loid)s, only few papers deal with these processes under aerobic conditions with microscopic fungi. Thus, the proving of ability of microscopic fungus Scopulariopsis brevicaulis to accumulate and transform metals and metalloids by methylation or alkylation and quantification of these processes were demonstrated. The results can provide basic information on natural elements cycling and background for more specific studies focusing, for example, on application of these processes in mitigation of metal(loid) contamination.
Chemical Papers, 2006
A reliable procedure for the electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS) determination ... more A reliable procedure for the electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS) determination of gold and silver in waters at trace level is described. The method is based on prior separation and preconcentration of the metals using a chelating sorbent SPHERON® Thiol 1000 after acidification of water samples (pH < 3) with nitric acid. Optimization of analytical variables during enrichment and ETAAS determination of the metals are discussed. The accuracy of the method is verified by analysis of certified reference materials. The limits of determinations based on 10 σ definition were 0.005 ng cm−3 for Au and 0.02 ng cm−3 for Ag. Precision of studied elements determination expressed by relative standard deviation varied in the range from 2.9 % to 16.4 %.
Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, 2004
The work presented describes the application of different analytical approaches for study of alum... more The work presented describes the application of different analytical approaches for study of aluminium mobility in rock, soil, and sediment samples affected by mining activity (secondary quartzites with sulfidic deposits). For this purpose we used a combination of the single extractions, the optimized BCR three-step sequential extraction procedure (SEP), and reactive aluminium determination after chelating ion-exchange on Ostsorb (Iontosorb) Salicyl by a batch technique with flame atomic absorption spectrometry quantification. The single extraction agents H(2)O, KCl, NH(4)Cl, and BaCl(2) were found to be the best for the quantitative estimation of the aluminium mobility in rocks, soils, and sediments caused by acidification of the environment. This fact was confirmed by reactive aluminium determination in the same samples. The vast majority of the aluminium content of samples after application of the optimized BCR three-step SEP is in the residues. The available fraction of aluminium extracted by dilute CH(3)COOH in the first step of this procedure correlates with the reactive aluminium content. The amounts of aluminium released in the second and the third steps and the sums from steps 1-3 of this procedure are closely associated with the aluminium content values obtained by the single dilute HCl leach. The accuracy of results obtained was verified with only informative values for individual fractions of the BCR three-step SEP because of the absence of suitable certified or standard reference materials. The amounts of the reactive aluminium determined in samples was in the range 12-82% of total soluble Al in the filtered H(2)O extracts. It was confirmed that the acidified polluted samples contain the most of reactive Al content, which is responsible for its toxicity.
Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, 2004
An optimised BCR three steps sequential extraction procedure (BCR SEP) and several single extract... more An optimised BCR three steps sequential extraction procedure (BCR SEP) and several single extractions with KCl, NH(4)Cl, Na(4)P(2)O(7) and 0.5 mol L(-1) HCl were used for the fractionation of Al, Cu, Fe, Mn, Pb and Zn in CRMs and in samples from a mining area with sulphidic deposits. A good interlaboratory comparability was obtained for Cu, Pb and Zn in CRM 483, CRM 701, SRM 2710 and SRM 2711 by BCR SEP. The reliability of the results obtained is also very satisfactory. Some differences were found between our results and the indicative data for Al and Fe fractionation. However, serious discrepancies were found for Mn, not only for individual steps of the fractionation, but for the data obtained overall (sum of 1-3 steps), and for the total concentration as well. Our results could be utilized as a contribution to the existing indicative values for CRM 483, SRM 2710 and SRM 2711 for interlaboratory study. Moreover, data for the fractionation of elements mentioned above for CRM 701 are first presented here.A high correlation between 0.5 mol L(-1) of HCl-extractable amounts of the elements studied, and the sum of the three steps of BCR SEP in acid sulphatic weathering products and naturally acidified soils was established, which allows us to suggest this rapid and cost-effective single extraction procedure as a valuable tool in contamination assessment.
Soil and Water Research, 2015
This paper evaluates the relationship between water repellency and multiple characteristics of to... more This paper evaluates the relationship between water repellency and multiple characteristics of topsoil samples belonging to seven Reference Soil Groups, taken from the area of the White Carpathians and the Myjavska pahorkatina Upland. In order to quantify water repellency, the Water Drop Penetration Time test and the Molarity of an Ethanol Droplet test were performed on 210 soil samples. The water repellency data were confronted with a number of categorical and numerical soil variables. It was observed that the particular land-use type and the nature of soil parent material, both are related towards detected water repellency of soil samples. All samples taken from the agricultural (tilled) and grassland soils were wettable. On the contrary, all samples which exhibited water repellency, belonged to the group of forest soils, although, not all forest soils were water repellent. Samples which showed considerable repellency were soils developed either on consolidated sedimentary rocks (sandstones, limestone-dolomitic rocks, flysch) or unconsolidated sediments of aeolic or polygenetic origin. On the other hand, the great majority of soils developed on recent alluvial deposits were clearly wettable. Correlation and regression analyses showed that susceptibility of forest topsoil to exhibit water repellency generally increases with increasing sand and organic carbon contents, and with a simultaneous decrease of soil pH value. An interesting observation came out regarding CaCO 3 and water repellency relation. Although certain soils with higher CaCO 3 exhibited water repellency (Rendzic Leptosols and Cambisols), all soils that developed on loose sediments and contained CaCO 3 were wettable.
Fresenius Environmental Bulletin
The purpose of this work was to evaluate the effectiveness of one-step bioleaching process applyi... more The purpose of this work was to evaluate the effectiveness of one-step bioleaching process applying static cultivation which involves microbial leaching of heavy metals using filamentous fungus Aspergillus niger, compared to acidic/chelating extraction with oxalic and citric acids. The e-waste, used in this study, consisted of pulverized parts from desktop computer and mobile phone fabricated between 1999 and 2002. The e-waste particles with size distribution between 0.01 µm and 150 µm were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDS), and divided into three groups based on their shape and morphology. After 42-day bioleaching treatment, the leachates were analyzed for heavy metal concentrations using controlled automatic laboratory analyzer EcaFlow. The bioleaching experiment has shown that the fungus A. niger was capable to mobilize 68.3% of Cu and 27.9% of Pb. According to results, citric acid (50 mM) was confirmed as the most effi...
The utilization of chelating ion exchange by the method based on binding strength and kinetic dis... more The utilization of chelating ion exchange by the method based on binding strength and kinetic discrimination was studied for aluminium speciation in natural waters. Two chelating ion exchangers Iontosorb Oxin and Iontosorb Salicyl, cellulose resins containing covalently bound 8-hydroxyquinoline and salicylic acid functional groups, were used for the determination of reactive aluminium by batch technique. For detection of aluminium species flame atomic absorption spectrometry was used.
Acta Physica Polonica A
Amorphous glass with nominal chemical composition Fe51Co12Si16B8Mo5P8 was studied by combination ... more Amorphous glass with nominal chemical composition Fe51Co12Si16B8Mo5P8 was studied by combination of the Mössbauer spectroscopy and magnetic measurements in order to characterize magnetic and structural features. Temperature evolution of the Mössbauer spectra revealed presence of broad distribution of hyperfine magnetic field at lower temperatures which vanishes with increase of temperature. The Curie temperature estimated from the Mössbauer spectroscopy experiments is TC ≈ 392 K. This value is in a good agreement with that obtained by magnetic measurements (TC = 397 K). The Mössbauer spectroscopy spectra of the sample annealed at 823 K revealed a presence of crystalline components. This temperature is notably lower than the expected temperature of the onset of crystallization observed by differential scanning calorimetry (≈ 835 K).
Chemicke Listy
Application of selected separation techniques and obtained total Hg concentrations in studied pla... more Application of selected separation techniques and obtained total Hg concentrations in studied plant species indicate relatively low Hg phytoavailability in studied soils. Calculated separation yields for applied separation techniques were in many cases comparable with soil-plant transfer recovery values for studied plant species. Distribution of Hg in roots of studied root vegetables showed the tendency of increasing amount of Hg from basal towards terminal part of root.
Fresenius Environmental Bulletin
Accumulation of Sb(III) as antimonyl tartrate by Aspergillus niger strain was examined. The pH va... more Accumulation of Sb(III) as antimonyl tartrate by Aspergillus niger strain was examined. The pH value of both antimony-free and antimony supplemented culture media declined in the first five days to extremely acidic region (approximately pH 2) and did not change during the rest of cultivation period. There were no statistically significant, microbially mediated changes in pH of broth media supplemented with Sb(III) when compared to antimony-free control. While the biomass yield of antimony supplemented culture media (upto 100 mg.L-1) during the exponential growth phase was identical to the antimony-free control, antimonyl tartrate however, had beneficial effect on fungal growth during the stationary growth phase. According to antimony accumulation results, A. niger strain efficiently reduced the uptake and enhanced the efflux of antimony during the first week of cultivation though later uptake of antimony was enhanced. The results indicate a relationship between the amount of antimon...
This study investigates the relationship between soil water repellency (SWR), soil temperature an... more This study investigates the relationship between soil water repellency (SWR), soil temperature and some physical and chemical characteristics of soils belonging to five reference soil groups in the area of White Carpathian Mts. and Myjavská pahorkatina Upland. Samples (0-20 cm) were collected from forest soils exhibiting some degree of water repellency. Persistence of SWR was measured by commonly used water drop penetration time (WDPT) test and the severity of SWR by molarity of an ethanol droplet (MED) test A heating experiment was designed in order to simulate conditions that normally occur in nature and are favourable for the change of SWR in soils. From the results it follows that heating at 50 °C for the first three days caused in most soils a gradual decrease in MED values. Initial MED values were re-established only after soil heating at 150 °C. This means that input of thermal energy was necessary to re-organize organic molecules causing SWR. In terms of comparison the MED v...
International Journal of Phytoremediation, 2015
Heavy metal phytotoxicity assessments usually use soluble metal compounds in spiked soils to eval... more Heavy metal phytotoxicity assessments usually use soluble metal compounds in spiked soils to evaluate metal bioaccumulation, growth inhibition and adverse effects on physiological parameters. However, exampling mercury phytotoxicity for barley (Hordeum vulgare) this paper highlights unsuitability of this experimental approach. Mercury(II) in spiked soils is extremely bioavailable, and there experimentally determined bioaccumulation is significantly higher compared to reported mercury bioaccumulation efficiency from soils collected from mercury-polluted areas. Our results indicate this is not affected by soil sorption capacity, thus soil ageing and formation of more stable mercuric complexes with soil fractions is necessary for reasonable metal phytotoxicity assessments.
Journal of Alloys and Compounds, 2015
Archives of environmental contamination and toxicology, 2015
As with many metals, bismuth can be accumulated or transformed by microorganisms. These interacti... more As with many metals, bismuth can be accumulated or transformed by microorganisms. These interactions affect microbial consortia and bismuth environmental behaviour, mobility, and toxicity. Recent research focused specifically on bismuth anaerobic transformation by bacteria and archaea has inspired the evaluation of the mutual interactions between bismuth and filamentous fungi as presented in this article. The Aspergillus clavatus fungus proved resistant to adverse effects from bismuth contamination in culture medium with up to a concentration of 195 µmol L(-1) during static 15- and 30-day cultivation. The examined resistance mechanism includes biosorption to the fungal surface and biovolatilization. Pelletized fungal biomass has shown high affinity for dissolved bismuth(III). Bismuth biosorption was rapid, reaching equilibrium after 50 min with a 0.35 mmol g(-1) maximum sorption capacity as calculated from the Langmuir isotherm. A. clavatus accumulated ≤70 µmol g(-1) of bismuth afte...
Water, Air, & Soil Pollution, 2014
ABSTRACT Mutual sorption interactions between heavy metals, humic acids and fungi were evaluated ... more ABSTRACT Mutual sorption interactions between heavy metals, humic acids and fungi were evaluated in this article. While the relative amount of sorbed As(V), Sb(III) and Pb(II) slightly decreased or remained unchanged, the sorption capacity of Zn(II) increased significantly with increasing amounts of immobilized humic acids in the Ca-alginate beads. Therefore, zinc is most likely preferentially sorbed to functional groups provided by humic acids rather than carboxyl or hydroxyl groups of alginate, with an optimum pH for uptake between 4 and 6. Nevertheless, the removal efficiency of metal(loid)s by unmodified Ca-alginate beads or those with humic acids modification was highest for Pb(II), at up to 93.5 %. The pH value also affects humic acids sorption properties on microbial surfaces. While the highest humic acids sorption capacity of mycelial pellets prepared from Aspergillus niger occurred at pH 8.5 (231 mg g−1), the pelletized Aspergillus clavatus biomass was more effective in acidic solution and 199 mg g−1 was recorded there at pH 5.5. The effect of mutual interactions between humic acids and mycelial pellets on Zn(II) immobilization indicates that zinc affinity is higher for the fungal surface than for humic acids which do not supply sufficient active sorption sites for zinc. This resulted in less sorption capacity of the mycelial pellets modified with humic acids compared to the unmodified biomass.
Letters in Applied Microbiology, 2014
Biovolatilization and bioaccumulation capabilities of different elements by microscopic filamento... more Biovolatilization and bioaccumulation capabilities of different elements by microscopic filamentous fungus Scopulariopsis brevicaulis were observed. Accumulation of As(III), As(V), Se(IV), Se(VI), Sb(III), Sb(V), Te(IV), Te(VI), Hg(II), Tl(I) and Bi(III) by S. brevicaulis was quantified by analysing the amount of elements in biomass of the fungus using ICP AAS. The highest amounts of bioaccumulated metal(loid)s were obtained as follows: Bi(III) > Te(IV) > Hg(II) > Se(IV) > Te(VI) > Sb(III) at different initial contents, with Bi(III) accumulation approximately 87%. The highest percentages of volatilization were found using Hg(II) (50%) and Se(IV) (46·5%); it was also demonstrated with all studied elements. This proved the biovolatilization ability of microscopic fungi under aerobic conditions. The highest removed amount was observed using Hg(II) (95·30%), and more than 80% of Se(IV), Te(IV), Bi(III) and Hg(II) was removed by bioaccumulation and biovolatilization, which implies the possibilities of use of these processes for bioremediations. There were reported significant differences between bioaccumulation and biovolatilization of almost all applied metal(loid)s if valence is mentioned. Microbial accumulation and volatilization are natural processes involved in biogeochemical cycles of elements. Despite their impact on mobility, bioavailability and toxicity of various metal(loid)s, only few papers deal with these processes under aerobic conditions with microscopic fungi. Thus, the proving of ability of microscopic fungus Scopulariopsis brevicaulis to accumulate and transform metals and metalloids by methylation or alkylation and quantification of these processes were demonstrated. The results can provide basic information on natural elements cycling and background for more specific studies focusing, for example, on application of these processes in mitigation of metal(loid) contamination.
Chemical Papers, 2006
A reliable procedure for the electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS) determination ... more A reliable procedure for the electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS) determination of gold and silver in waters at trace level is described. The method is based on prior separation and preconcentration of the metals using a chelating sorbent SPHERON® Thiol 1000 after acidification of water samples (pH < 3) with nitric acid. Optimization of analytical variables during enrichment and ETAAS determination of the metals are discussed. The accuracy of the method is verified by analysis of certified reference materials. The limits of determinations based on 10 σ definition were 0.005 ng cm−3 for Au and 0.02 ng cm−3 for Ag. Precision of studied elements determination expressed by relative standard deviation varied in the range from 2.9 % to 16.4 %.
Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, 2004
The work presented describes the application of different analytical approaches for study of alum... more The work presented describes the application of different analytical approaches for study of aluminium mobility in rock, soil, and sediment samples affected by mining activity (secondary quartzites with sulfidic deposits). For this purpose we used a combination of the single extractions, the optimized BCR three-step sequential extraction procedure (SEP), and reactive aluminium determination after chelating ion-exchange on Ostsorb (Iontosorb) Salicyl by a batch technique with flame atomic absorption spectrometry quantification. The single extraction agents H(2)O, KCl, NH(4)Cl, and BaCl(2) were found to be the best for the quantitative estimation of the aluminium mobility in rocks, soils, and sediments caused by acidification of the environment. This fact was confirmed by reactive aluminium determination in the same samples. The vast majority of the aluminium content of samples after application of the optimized BCR three-step SEP is in the residues. The available fraction of aluminium extracted by dilute CH(3)COOH in the first step of this procedure correlates with the reactive aluminium content. The amounts of aluminium released in the second and the third steps and the sums from steps 1-3 of this procedure are closely associated with the aluminium content values obtained by the single dilute HCl leach. The accuracy of results obtained was verified with only informative values for individual fractions of the BCR three-step SEP because of the absence of suitable certified or standard reference materials. The amounts of the reactive aluminium determined in samples was in the range 12-82% of total soluble Al in the filtered H(2)O extracts. It was confirmed that the acidified polluted samples contain the most of reactive Al content, which is responsible for its toxicity.
Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, 2004
An optimised BCR three steps sequential extraction procedure (BCR SEP) and several single extract... more An optimised BCR three steps sequential extraction procedure (BCR SEP) and several single extractions with KCl, NH(4)Cl, Na(4)P(2)O(7) and 0.5 mol L(-1) HCl were used for the fractionation of Al, Cu, Fe, Mn, Pb and Zn in CRMs and in samples from a mining area with sulphidic deposits. A good interlaboratory comparability was obtained for Cu, Pb and Zn in CRM 483, CRM 701, SRM 2710 and SRM 2711 by BCR SEP. The reliability of the results obtained is also very satisfactory. Some differences were found between our results and the indicative data for Al and Fe fractionation. However, serious discrepancies were found for Mn, not only for individual steps of the fractionation, but for the data obtained overall (sum of 1-3 steps), and for the total concentration as well. Our results could be utilized as a contribution to the existing indicative values for CRM 483, SRM 2710 and SRM 2711 for interlaboratory study. Moreover, data for the fractionation of elements mentioned above for CRM 701 are first presented here.A high correlation between 0.5 mol L(-1) of HCl-extractable amounts of the elements studied, and the sum of the three steps of BCR SEP in acid sulphatic weathering products and naturally acidified soils was established, which allows us to suggest this rapid and cost-effective single extraction procedure as a valuable tool in contamination assessment.
Soil and Water Research, 2015
This paper evaluates the relationship between water repellency and multiple characteristics of to... more This paper evaluates the relationship between water repellency and multiple characteristics of topsoil samples belonging to seven Reference Soil Groups, taken from the area of the White Carpathians and the Myjavska pahorkatina Upland. In order to quantify water repellency, the Water Drop Penetration Time test and the Molarity of an Ethanol Droplet test were performed on 210 soil samples. The water repellency data were confronted with a number of categorical and numerical soil variables. It was observed that the particular land-use type and the nature of soil parent material, both are related towards detected water repellency of soil samples. All samples taken from the agricultural (tilled) and grassland soils were wettable. On the contrary, all samples which exhibited water repellency, belonged to the group of forest soils, although, not all forest soils were water repellent. Samples which showed considerable repellency were soils developed either on consolidated sedimentary rocks (sandstones, limestone-dolomitic rocks, flysch) or unconsolidated sediments of aeolic or polygenetic origin. On the other hand, the great majority of soils developed on recent alluvial deposits were clearly wettable. Correlation and regression analyses showed that susceptibility of forest topsoil to exhibit water repellency generally increases with increasing sand and organic carbon contents, and with a simultaneous decrease of soil pH value. An interesting observation came out regarding CaCO 3 and water repellency relation. Although certain soils with higher CaCO 3 exhibited water repellency (Rendzic Leptosols and Cambisols), all soils that developed on loose sediments and contained CaCO 3 were wettable.
Fresenius Environmental Bulletin
The purpose of this work was to evaluate the effectiveness of one-step bioleaching process applyi... more The purpose of this work was to evaluate the effectiveness of one-step bioleaching process applying static cultivation which involves microbial leaching of heavy metals using filamentous fungus Aspergillus niger, compared to acidic/chelating extraction with oxalic and citric acids. The e-waste, used in this study, consisted of pulverized parts from desktop computer and mobile phone fabricated between 1999 and 2002. The e-waste particles with size distribution between 0.01 µm and 150 µm were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDS), and divided into three groups based on their shape and morphology. After 42-day bioleaching treatment, the leachates were analyzed for heavy metal concentrations using controlled automatic laboratory analyzer EcaFlow. The bioleaching experiment has shown that the fungus A. niger was capable to mobilize 68.3% of Cu and 27.9% of Pb. According to results, citric acid (50 mM) was confirmed as the most effi...