Instrumental and experimental conditions for the application of fourier transform infrared analysis on soil and humic acid samples, combined with chemometrics tools and scanning electron microscopy

Abstract

The investigation of the chemical properties of soil organic matter (OM), by the use of some spectroscopic techniques, requires the removal of the mineral impurities of the samples. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of the pretreatment of samples and, also, the influence of instrumental conditions on the qualitative and quantitative results obtained by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy to soil and humic acid (HA) samples. The obtained results showed that: the mass of potassium bromide (KBr) used on the background pellet influenced the characteristics of samples spectra; the baseline correction changes the intensity of the absorptions; both the extraction of HA as the hydrofluoric acid (HF) treatment were not efficient in removing the mineral impurities of the samples. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis showed differences due to the extraction, but not due to the HF treatment. The present study shows the importance of the use of adequate treatments, before, during and after the spectroscopic study of soil OM, providing valuable information for future works.