In Vitro Testing and Commercialization Potential of Extracted Fulvic Acid from Dredged Sediment from Arid Region Reservoirs

• Published in: Waste and biomass valorization Vol. 5; no. 2; pp. 273 - 281
• Main Authors: Irie, Mitsuteru, Han, Junkyu, Kawachi, Atsushi, Tarhouni, Jamila, Ksibi, Mohamed, Kashiwagi, Kenichi, Isoda, Hiroko
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.04.2014
• Subjects: Engineering; Environment; Environmental Engineering/Biotechnology; Industrial Pollution Prevention; Original Paper; Renewable and Green Energy; Waste Management/Waste Technology; Arid land; Bio assay; Fulvic acid; Reservoir sediment
• ISSN: 1877-2641; 1877-265X
• DOI: 10.1007/s12649-013-9234-y

The surface water resource in arid land is on the verge of a crisis. The eroded soil deposited in the catchment area reduces the storage capacity of the reservoir. The countermeasures, such as dredging and flood water bypass, are suggested but they are quite costly especially for developing countries. The authors study the potential of exploitation of the sediment and its commercialization in order to reduce the financial burden of sediment dredging by using the income from sold the products. One of the possible aspects to utilize is the fulvic acid contained in the sediment for use as a functional food or medicine. In this study, fulvic acids were extracted from the sediment sampled from four reservoirs in Tunisia. Elemental analysis and FT-IR were performed in order to determine the chemical characteristics of the extracted fulvic acids. The fulvic acids from the reservoirs had a comparatively low biodegraded matter than the fulivic acids in other natural water environment due to the shorter time of humification. The functionalities of the extracted fulvic acids on human body were evaluated using in vitro bioassays. The effect on energy metabolism and anti-allergic potential of some of the fulvic acids were confirmed.