Abstract
A comparative study on cadmium(II) complexation with three well characterized humic acids (SHA: soil humic acid from the Okchun Metamorphic Belt; AqHA: aquatic humic acid from Gorleben underground aquifer, Germany; CoHA: commercially available humic acid from the Aldrich Co.) was carried out in 0.1 M $NaClO_4$ at different solution pH(5.0, 5.5, and 6.0) using the ultrafiltration technique. The maximum binding ability (MBA) of the humic acids for cadmium(II) was observed to vary with their origins and solution pH. The results suggest that 1 : 1 complex predominates within the experimental range, and the conditional stability constants were calculated based on the assumption of cooperative binding, yielding log K values that were quite similar (CoHA: 4.17${\pm}$0.08; AqHA: 4.14${\pm}$0.07; SHA: $4.06{\pm} 0.12\;l\;mol^{-1}$ at pH 6.0) irrespective of humic acid origins or pH. By contrast a nonlinear Schatchard plot was obtained, using the cadmium(II) ion selective electrode speciation analysis method, which indicated that humic acid may have two or more classes of binding sites, with $log\;K_1\;and\;log\;K_2$ of 4.73${\pm}$ 0.08 and $3.31{\pm}0.14\;l\;mol^{-1}$ respectively.