ESEL Paper Review_20110420 by Aamir Alaud-din

1.    Title and Author

Title: 2011_04_04_Tracing of dissolved organic matter from the SEPETIBA Bay (Brazil) by PARAFAC analysis of total luminescence matrices
 
Authors: X. Luciani1a,*, S. Mounierb, H.H.M. Paraquettic,d, R. Redona, Y. Lucasb, A. Boisa, L.D. Lacerdad, M. Raynauda, M. Riperta

a Laboratoire PROTEE-ISO, Universit? du sud Toulon Var, BP 20132, 83957 La Garde Cedex, France

b Laboratoire PROTEE-CAPTE, Universit? du sud Toulon Var, BP 20132, 83957 La Garde Cedex, France

c Departmento de Geoqu?miqa, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Campus do Valonguinho, Niter?i, 2020-007 RJ, Brazil

d Instituto de Ci?ncias do Mar, Universidade Federal do Cear?, Av. Aboli??o 3207, Fortaleza, 60165-081 CE, Brazil

2.    Summary of Paper

Sepetiba bay is a semi-enclosed water body in Brazil. Principal component analysis was used to interpret the variations and comparisons between different studies. Now a days, parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) is being used for this purpose. Samples of water were taken in different campaigns. After pretreatment of water samples, fluorescence excitation-emission matrices (FEEM) were obtained. The excitation interval was 200 ? 500nm with a 3nm step. Emission interval was 250 ? 600nm with a 3nm step.

The results of PARAFAC modeling showed the presence of four fluorophores. These fluorophores with wavelength domains are given in table below.

Table
Component    Peaks    Wavelength Domain    Compound
1    2    350/400-450
275/400-450    Humic Like
2    1    255/380-460    Humic Like
3    1    320/380-420    Marine Humic Like
4    1    275/300-360    Protein Like

Humic like substances were found the major components in the water samples. Thus PARAFAC modeling also told the major pollutant in water.

3.    Contribution to ESEL

Sometimes, a single technique gives a lot of information. Informations depend on our approach. For example, this paper clarifies that humic like substances played a major role in water pollution. So, PARAFAC also enabled to determine the key pollutant. Similarly, other techniques may also give a lot of other information other than what we study.

By: Aamir Alaud-din
aamiralauddin@gist.ac.kr