Spatial-temporal variation of dissolved inorganic material in the Amazon basin

The Amazon River basin is important in the contribution of dissolved material to oceans (4% worldwide). The aim of this work was to study the spatial and the temporal variability of dissolved inorganic materials in the main rivers of the Amazon basin. Data from 2003 to 2011 from six gauging stations of the ORE-HYBAM localized in Solimões, Purus, Madeira and Amazon rivers were used for this study. The concentrations of Ca2+, Na+, K+, Mg2+, Cl-, SO4 -2, HCO3 - and SiO2 were analyzed. At the stations of Solimões and Amazon rivers, the concentrations of Ca2+, Mg2+, HCO3 - and SO4 -2 had heterogeneous distribution over the years and did not show seasonality. At the stations of Madeira river, the concentration of these ions had seasonality inversely proportional to water discharge (dilution-concentration effect). Similar behavior was observed for the concentrations of Cl- and Na+ at the stations of the Solimões, Amazon and Madeira rivers, indicating almost constant release of Cl- and Na+ fluxes during the hydrological cycle. K+ and SiO2 showed almost constant concentrations throughout the years and all the stations, indicating that their flows depend on the river discharge variation. Therefore, the temporal variability of the dissolved inorganic material fluxes in the Solimões and Amazon rivers depends on the hydro-climatic factor and on the heterogeneity of the sources. In the Madeira and Purus rivers there is less influence of these factors, indicating that dissolved load fluxes are mainly associated to silicates weathering. As the Solimões basin contributes approximately 84% of the total flux of dissolved materials in the basin and is mainly under the influence of a hydro-climatic factor, we conclude that the temporal variability of this factor controls the temporal variability of the dissolved material fluxes of the Amazon basin.

Quantification of aluminium in soil of the Solimões Formation, Acre State, Brazil

The variety of soils in the State of Acre is wide and their chemical profiles are still not fully understood. The nature of the material of origin of these soils is indicated by the high aluminium (Al) content, commonly associated with high calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg) contents. The study objective was to use different methods to quantify Al in soils from toposequences formed from material of a sedimentary nature originating from the Solimões Formation, in Acre, Brazil. Trenches were opened at three distinct points in the landscape: shoulder, backslope and footslope positions. Soil samples were collected for physical, chemical, mineralogical analyses. The Al content was quantified using different methods. High Al contents were found in most of these horizons, associated with high Ca and Mg levels, representing the predominant cations in the sum of exchangeable bases. The mineralogy indicates that the soils are still in a low weathering phase, with the presence of significant quantities of 2:1 minerals. Similar Al contents were determined by the methods of NaOH titration, xylenol orange spectrometry and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry. However, no consistent data were obtained by the pyrocatechol violet method. Extraction with KCl overestimated the exchangeable Al content due to its ability to extract the non-exchangeable Al present in the smectite interlayers. It was observed that high Al contents are related to the instability of the hydroxyl-Al smectite interlayers.

Residual effects of successive exposure of soybean Bradyrhizobium strains to aluminium on solid defined medium

The aim of these studies was to investigate whether residual toxic effects of exposing soybean root nodule bacteria to Al in a solid defined media (SDM) alter tolerance to Al, survival, sensitivity to antibiotics, N2 fixation effectiveness and genetic diversity of Bradyrhizobium strains. After being exposed four times to Al, strains showed variation in Al tolerance but there was no evidence of change in their original Al tolerance, sensitivity to the antibiotics or genetic diversity. Exposure of Bradyrhizobium strains to SDM plus Al did not alter biological N2 fixation effectiveness of five strains. Strain SEMIA 587 showed a reduction in its N2 fixation effectiveness but it seems that it was just a superficial toxic effect because one single passage through the plant eliminated this effect. Residual Al did not cause increases in Al tolerance and reductions in the survival and N2 fixation effectiveness of Bradyrhizobium strains USDA 143, SEMIA 586, SEMIA 5019, SEMIA 5039 and SEMIA 5073. It also did not alter the resistance to antibiotics of strains USDA 143, SEMIA 5039 and SEMIA 5073, and the genetic diversity of the strains SEMIA 587 and SEMIA 5019.

Migration of dissolved organic carbon in biochars and biochar-mineral complexes

The objective of this work was to determine the contribution of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from a biochar mineral complex (BMC), so as to better understand the interactions between DOC, biochar, clay, and minerals during thermal treatment, and the effects of BMC on amended soils. The BMC was prepared by heating a mixture of a H3PO4-treated saligna biochar from Acacia saligna, clays, other minerals, and chicken manure. The BMC was applied to a sandy loam soil in Western Australia, where wheat was grown. Liquid chromatography-organic carbon detection (LC-OCD) tests were carried out on water extracts from the untreated biochar, the BMC, the BMC-amended soil, and on a control soil to measure the DOC concentration. LC-OCD tests provide a fingerprint of the DOC, which allows the fractions of DOC to be determined. Thermal processing enhanced the reaction of the A. saligna biochar with manure, clays and minerals, and affected the distribution of the DOC fractions. Notably, the process leads to immobilization of hydrophobic DOC and to an increase in the concentration of low-molecular-weight neutrals in the BMC. The application of the BMC to soil increases the DOC in the amended soil, especially the biopolymer fraction.

Recuperação de metais de catalisadores mássicos e monometálicos

This work presents a study on the dissolution of some commercial monometallic and non-supported deactivated catalysts in HF + H2O2 mixtures (and, eventually, other media) under mild experimental conditions, after a previous oxidation step. The samples were neither crushed nor grinded. The best experimental conditions were dependent on the nature of the support and of the active phase. For example, the Pt/Al2O3 catalyst was dissolved in about 10 minutes, without agitation and heating; however, dissolution of the Pd/Al2O3, Ni/Al2O3, Ni/SiO2, Cu/Al2O3 and V2O5 samples required a temperature of 60 ºC and an agitation of 400 rpm. A careful addition of a NaOH solution allowed a quantitative precipitation of aluminium as criolite (Na3AlF6) or precipitation of Si as Na2SiF6; NaF was obtained as a by-product. As expected, processing of Pd/C, V2O5 and CuO.Cr2O3 samples was relatively simple. Metals recovery from catalysts reached a quantitative level in all samples studied; it is particularly interesting that platinum and palladium could be easily recovered in a single step process, thus separing them from aluminium.

Estudio preliminar sobre la determinación de elementos traza en cervezas venezolanas por ICP-OES

The levels of several chemical elements were determined simultaneously in ten different beers of the Venezuelan market by ICP-OES. With the exception of chromium, beer does not provide important amounts of nutritional oligoelements. The average chromium content found (33 µg/L) is higher than one reported for USA's beer (10 µg/L) but smaller than another reported for Brazilian beer (66 µg/L). The average percentage of chromium RDA by beer consumption found for Venezuela (6.3%) is similar to that reported for Belgium (5%). Regarding toxic elements, one of the samples contained an elevated amount of aluminium, probably dissolved from the aluminium can.

Dehydration and volatilization non isothermic kinetic of the solid state aluminium 8-hydroxyquinolinate

Al(C9H6ON)3.2.5H2O was precipitated from the mixture of an aqueous solution of aluminium ion and an acid solution of 8-hydroxyquinoline, by increasing the pH value to 9.5 with ammonia aqueous solution. The TG curves in nitrogen atmosphere present mass losses due to dehydration, partial volatilisation (sublimation plus vaporisation) of the anhydrous compound followed by thermal decomposition with the formation of a mixture of carbonaceous and residues. The relation between sublimation and vaporisation depends on the heating rate used. The non isothermic integral isoconventional methods as linear equations of Ozawa-Flynn-Wall and Kissinger-Akahira-Sunose (KAS) were used to obtain the kinetic parameters from TG and DTA curves, respectively. Despite the fact that both dehydration and volatilisation reactions follow the linearity by using both methods, only for the volatilisation reaction the validity condition, 20<= E/RT<= 50, was verified.

Synthesis, characterization and thermal behaviour of solid state compounds of 2-chlorobenzylidenepyruvate with trivalent aluminium, gallium, indium and scandium metals

Solid state compounds M-2-Cl-BP, where 2-Cl-BP is 2-chlorobenzylidenepyruvate and M represents Al, Ga, In, and Sc were prepared. X-ray powder diffractometry, infrared spectroscopy and simultaneous thermogravimetry-differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA), have been used to characterize and to study the thermal behavior of these compounds. The results provided information concerning the stoichiometry, crystallinity, thermal stability and thermal decomposition of the compounds.

Synthesis and thermal studies of solid state 2-chloro-benzylidenepyruvic acid and its compounds with sodium, aluminium (III), gallium (III) and indium (III) cations

The synthesis of sodium 2-chlorobenzylidenepyruvate and its corresponding acid as well as binary, binary together with it's acid or hydroxo-2-chorobenzylidenepyruvate of aluminium (III), gallium (III) and indium (III), were isolated. Chemical analysis, thermogravimetry, derivative thermogravimetry (TG/DTG), simultaneous thermogravimetry-differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA) and X-ray powder diffractometry have been employed to characterize and to study the thermal behaviour of these compounds. The results provided information concerning the stoichiometry, crystallinity, thermal stability and thermal decomposition.