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Transport behaviour of different metal-based nanoparticles through natural sediment in the presence of humic acid and under the groundwater condition

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Abstract

The production of nanoparticles (NPs) has increased significantly, given that they have numerous commercial and medical applications. There might have some risk associated with the release of these NPs in the environment. To assess the possible risk of releases of NPs in the groundwater, it is important to evaluate the fate and transport behaviour of NPs through porous media. The objective of this study is, therefore, to evaluate the transport behaviour of widely used NPs [i.e., silver (Ag), iron oxide (FexOy), titanium dioxide (TiO2) and zinc oxide (ZnO)] through porous media in the presence and/or absence of organic matter [i.e., humic acid (HA)] under controlled de-ionized and natural groundwater condition. To achieve the objective, first, the detailed characterizations of NPs are carried out in the presence and absence of HA. Column transport experiments were performed using a 1-D sand-packed column. Different NPs were injected from one end of the column with a flow rate of 0.0054 cm/sec. The result suggests that nAg, nTiO2, and nZnO particles are colloidal stable in the suspension, while nFexOy particles tend to aggregate and settle down very rapidly. However, in the presence of HA, the colloidal stability of nFexOy in the suspension increases significantly. Evaluation of transport behaviour of different metal NPs suggests that a high amount of nFexOy (C/C0=0.01) and nZnO (C/C0=0.09) particles are retained in the porous media. However, in the presence of HA, the transport efficiency of nFexOy (C/C0=0.64) increases significantly. The extensively high amount of nAg and nTiO2 particles are transported in the absence/presence of HA. The surface charge of particles and thus the interaction energy between the NPs and the sand is the main factor controlling the deposition of NPs. Overall, it could be stated that there is a risk of migration of nAg and nTiO2 particles irrespective of the presence of organic matter or of nFexOy particles in the presence of organic matter through the aquifer porous media. However, in the natural groundwater system, when the different ion is present, the extent of transport of NPs is expected to be less, and the risk associated with releasing of NPs in the groundwater would be comparatively low than that is predicted under the controlled de-ionized water condition. However, the nTiO2 particles always have a high risk of release into the groundwater.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge SERB-DST for funding the project under the Young Scientist Start-up Scheme (Project no. YSS/2015/000983). We would also like to thank Mr. Pranjay Joshi, the junior research fellow at IIT Patna, for helping with few analyses.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Indian Institute of Technology Patna, Patna, 801 103, India

    Dibyanshu & Trishikhi Raychoudhury

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  1. Dibyanshu
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  2. Trishikhi Raychoudhury
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Correspondence to Trishikhi Raychoudhury.

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Communicated by Abhijit Mukherjee

Corresponding editor: Abhijit Mukherjee

Supplementary materials pertaining to this article are available on the Journal of Earth Science Website (http://www.ias.ac.in/Journals/Journal_of_Earth_System_Science).

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Dibyanshu, Raychoudhury, T. Transport behaviour of different metal-based nanoparticles through natural sediment in the presence of humic acid and under the groundwater condition. J Earth Syst Sci 129, 145 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-020-01411-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-020-01411-2

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