The Recent Strategies Employed
in Chemical Analysis of Contaminated
Waters, Sediments and Soils as a Part
of the Remediation Process: Extraction
5
Lucia Nemček and Ingrid Hagarová
Abstract
For the past few decades, Earth’s terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems have been
altered dramatically by human actions. Many industrial activities have significant
adverse effects on the environment; a lot of mass-produced chemicals that play a
critical role in our everyday lives present risks to living things during their
manufacture, use and disposal. The pollutants often persist in the environment
for a long time; therefore, there is a call for research and development of
remediation procedures that lead to successful removal of emerging contaminants
from water, air, sediments and soils. One of the leading sample preparation
techniques in trace element analysis is the extraction. The technique is available
in different modifications and it is applicable for both organic and inorganic
pollutants. This chapter presents an overview of different extraction techniques
which represent an important step in preparing samples for analysis of metals,
organic compounds and other substances that can act as environmental pollutants.
The reliability of solid-liquid extraction for separation of Cu
2+ , Ni
2+ , Cd
2+ and
Pb
2+ ions from contaminated soils and river sediments prior to their determination
by flame atomic absorption spectrometry is illustrated by the original experiment.
The efficacy of different types of extraction agents was evaluated: Triton X-100
and Triton X-114 as synthetic non-ionic surfactants’ representatives, secondary
metabolites of Aspergillus niger and quillaja saponin as a natural surfactant that
meets the green chemistry concept. Environmental samples known to contain
considerable amounts of heavy metals were collected from four areas of historical
mining activity in Slovakia – Šobov, Pezinok, Richňava and Jaklovce.
L. Nemček (*) · I. Hagarová
Institute of Laboratory Research on Geomaterials, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius
University in Bratislava, Bratislava, Slovakia
e-mail: lucia.nemcek@uniba.sk
# Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
R. Prasad (ed.), Environmental Pollution and Remediation, Environmental and
Microbial Biotechnology, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-5499-5_5
131
in Chemical Analysis of Contaminated
Waters, Sediments and Soils as a Part
of the Remediation Process: Extraction
5
Lucia Nemček and Ingrid Hagarová
Abstract
For the past few decades, Earth’s terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems have been
altered dramatically by human actions. Many industrial activities have significant
adverse effects on the environment; a lot of mass-produced chemicals that play a
critical role in our everyday lives present risks to living things during their
manufacture, use and disposal. The pollutants often persist in the environment
for a long time; therefore, there is a call for research and development of
remediation procedures that lead to successful removal of emerging contaminants
from water, air, sediments and soils. One of the leading sample preparation
techniques in trace element analysis is the extraction. The technique is available
in different modifications and it is applicable for both organic and inorganic
pollutants. This chapter presents an overview of different extraction techniques
which represent an important step in preparing samples for analysis of metals,
organic compounds and other substances that can act as environmental pollutants.
The reliability of solid-liquid extraction for separation of Cu
2+ , Ni
2+ , Cd
2+ and
Pb
2+ ions from contaminated soils and river sediments prior to their determination
by flame atomic absorption spectrometry is illustrated by the original experiment.
The efficacy of different types of extraction agents was evaluated: Triton X-100
and Triton X-114 as synthetic non-ionic surfactants’ representatives, secondary
metabolites of Aspergillus niger and quillaja saponin as a natural surfactant that
meets the green chemistry concept. Environmental samples known to contain
considerable amounts of heavy metals were collected from four areas of historical
mining activity in Slovakia – Šobov, Pezinok, Richňava and Jaklovce.
L. Nemček (*) · I. Hagarová
Institute of Laboratory Research on Geomaterials, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius
University in Bratislava, Bratislava, Slovakia
e-mail: lucia.nemcek@uniba.sk
# Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
R. Prasad (ed.), Environmental Pollution and Remediation, Environmental and
Microbial Biotechnology, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-5499-5_5
131