Kinetic studies of nickel speciation in model solutions of a well-characterized humic acid using the competing ligand exchange method Original Research Article

Publications on the binding characteristics of metals with humic acid (HA) are sparse. Here we investigated the release of nickel from Ni(II)–HA complexes using model solutions of three different [Ni(II)]/[HA] mole ratios at three different pH values; we also compared the results with those of [Ni(II)]/[FA] complexes from previous work in this laboratory. Ligand exchange kinetics using the competing ligand exchange method (CLEM) were studied using two different techniques: graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS) with Chelex 100 resin as the competing ligand, and adsorptive cathodic stripping voltammetry (AdCSV) with dimethylglyoxime as the competing ligand to measure the rate of dissociation of Ni(II)–HA complexes. The results of the kinetic studies showed that as the [Ni(II)]/[HA] mole ratio was decreased, the rate of dissociation of Ni(II)–HA complexes decreased, and the proportion of free Ni2+ ions plus very labile nickel complexes decreased while the proportion of the less labile kinetically distinguishable components increased. Generally, the rate of dissociation of Ni(II)–HA complexes was slower than that of Ni(II)–FA complexes. Studies on the validity of the kinetic model showed that the concentrations of chemical species varied in a reasonable way with pH and the [Ni(II)]/[HA] mole ratios, indicating that the kinetically distinguishable components have chemical significance and the kinetic model is valid.