title: Characterization of dissolved organic matter in urban sewage using excitation emission matrix fluorescence spectroscopy and parallel factor analysis.
abstract: Wastewater dissolved organic matter (DOM) from different processing stages of a sewage treatment plant in Xiamen was characterized using fluorescence and absorption spectroscopy. Parallel factor analysis modeling of excitation-emission matrix spectra revealed five fluorescent components occurring in sewage DOM: one protein-like (C1), three humic-like (C2, C4 and C5) and one xenobiotic-like (C3) components. During the aerated grit chamber and primary sedimentation tank stage, there was only a slight decrease in fluorescence intensity and the absorption coefficient at 350 nm (a350). During the second aeration stage, high concentration of protein-like and short-wavelength-excited humic-like components were significantly degraded accompanied by significant loss of DOC (80%) and a350 (30%), indicating that C1 and C2 were the dominant constituents of sewage DOM. As a result, long-wavelength-excited C4 and C5 became the dominant humic-like components and the DOM molecular size inferred from the variation of spectral slope S (300-650 nm) and specific absorption (a280/DOC) increased. Combination use of F(max) of C1 and the ratio of C1/C5, or a350 may provide a quantitative indication for the relative amount of raw or treated sewage in aquatic environment.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China. wdguo@xmu.edu.cn
authors.forename: Weidong
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Jiangping
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yingrou
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wen
authors.forename: Jianfu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhuo
authors.forename: Yuchao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yan
mesh_terms: D009930:Organic Chemicals / Q000032:analysis; D012722:Sewage / Q000032:analysis*; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D009930:Organic Chemicals; D012722:Sewage; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical