COMPLEXATION PROPERTIES OF TYPICAL SOIL AND PEAT HUMIC ACIDS WITH COPPER(II) AND CADMIUM(II)

Potentiometric titration with ion-selective electrodes was applied to determine characteristic parameters like the degree of complexation and the approximate molecular weight of humic acids from theoretical considerations and conditional stability constants for the complexes of Cu(II) and Cd(II) with humic acids obtained from sources such as garden soil, peat prepared by decomposing water hyacinth in soil and humified water hyacinth. Double-reciprocal and Scatchard plots were constructed to determine the conditional stability constants of the complexes formed. Cu(II) was found to have more affinity for the humic acids than Cd(II) and the stability of the metal complexes in aqueous medium was found to increase with increasing pH. The order of stability of the complexes was M — HA (soil)> M — HA (peat)> M-HA (humified water hyacinth), where M and HA represent metal and humic acids, respectively. © 1990 Gordon and Breach Science Publishers S.A.