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Metal Mobilization and Immobilization as Remediation Approaches for Soil Restoration

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A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Science and Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2021) | Viewed by 20193

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Mariusz Gusiatin

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Guest Editor

Department of Environmental Biotechnology, Faculty of Geoingineering, University of Warmia and Mazury, Olsztyn, Poland
Interests: soil remediation systems; soil science and soil reclamation; heavy metals and metalloids; biosurfactants in soil remediation; phytoremediation; waste-based materials in soil remediation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Jurate Kumpiene

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Guest Editor

Waste Science & Technology, Department of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Luleå University of Technology, Luleå Sweden
Interests: geochemistry; soil science; soil pollutants; soil and groundwater remediation techniques; risk assessment of contaminated sites; soil amendments

Dr. Maja Radziemska

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Guest Editor

Institute of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Warsaw University of Life Sciences – SGGW, Warsaw, Poland
Interests: environmental chemistry; environmental pollution; soil amendments; soil reclamation; risk minimization
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Soil contamination with heavy metal(loid)s (HMs) is a widespread problem. Worldwide, more than 10 million sites are considered to have polluted soil, of which above 50% are contaminated with heavy metals (e.g., Cd, Cr, Pb) and/or metalloids (e.g., As). Due to HMs’ persistence, bioaccumulation, and toxicity, remediation actions in contaminated areas are still urgent. Two main remediation practices, i.e., immobilization and mobilization, have been adopted to reduce the hazardous effects of HMs and restore contaminated soil ecosystems. Immobilization with stabilization/solidification or assisted phytostabilization techniques decreases the mobility of HMs in soil and their bioavailability to plants, animals, and humans and reduces HM leaching into groundwater. Mobilization of HMs can include phytoextraction, electrokinetics, or soil washing/soil flushing technologies and results in permanent HM removal from soil. Considering the limitations of remediation techniques, immobilization processes are generally preferred for treating heavy metal contaminated soils. Although soil remediation with mobilization and immobilization of HMs has attracted intense interest in recent years, many areas still need to be developed. Thus, this Special Issue is seeking contributions that focus on the following:

Innovative approaches to minimize the bioavailability and toxicity of HMs in soil;
The effectiveness of mobilization and immobilization of HMs in multi-HM contaminated soils;
Novel agents to immobilize or mobilize HMs in soils, including waste by-products, or modified or combined soil amendments;
Inovative methods of incorporation of immobilising amenmdents to soil;
Interactions between target HMs and (im)mobilizing agents; mechanisms of action of (im)mobilizing agents;
Long-term sustainability of amendments in field conditions;
Soil microorganisms in HM mobilization/immobilization in different soil environments;
Monitoring HMs in soils remediated with immobilization and/or mobilization practices;
Advanced techniques to examine the effect of HM immobilization and/or mobilization in different soils.

This Special Issue is open to research, case studies, or review papers that will contribute to advances in soil remediation based on HM immobilization and/or mobilization strategies.

Prof. Dr. Zygmunt Mariusz Gusiatin
Dr. Maja Radziemska
Prof. Dr. Jurate Kumpiene
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

metals
metalloids
mobility and bioavailability
immobilizing and mobilizing agents
green and sustainable remediation
nanoremediation
long-term application
aging
field applicability
soil quality

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

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21 pages, 5232 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Remediation of Smelter Contaminated Soil by Sequential Washing Using Biosurfactants

by Zygmunt Mariusz Gusiatin, Jurate Kumpiene, Ivan Carabante, Maja Radziemska and Martin Brtnicky

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(24), 12875; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182412875 - 7 Dec 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1888

Abstract

This paper presents experimental results from the use of biosurfactants in the remediation of a soil from a smelter in Poland. In the soil, concentrations of Cu (1659.1 mg/kg) and Pb (290.8 mg/kg) exceeded the limit values. Triple batch washing was tested as a soil treatment. Three main variants were used, each starting with a different plant-derived (saponin, S; tannic acid, T) or microbial (rhamnolipids, R) biosurfactant solution in the first washing, followed by 9 different sequences using combinations of the tested biosurfactants (27 in total). The efficiency of the washing was determined based on the concentration of metal removed after each washing (C_R), the cumulative removal efficiency (E_cumulative) and metal stability (calculated as the reduced partition index, I_r, based on the metal fractions from BCR sequential extraction). The type of biosurfactant sequence influenced the C_R values. The variants that began with S and R had the highest average E_cumulative for Cu and Pb, respectively. The E_cumulative value correlated very strongly (r > 0.8) with the stability of the residual metals in the soil. The average E_cumulative and stability of Cu were the highest, 87.4% and 0.40, respectively, with the S-S-S, S-S-T, S-S-R and S-R-T sequences. Lead removal and stability were the highest, 64–73% and 0.36–0.41, respectively, with the R-R-R, R-R-S, R-S-R and R-S-S sequences. Although the loss of biosurfactants was below 10% after each washing, sequential washing with biosurfactants enriched the soil with external organic carbon by an average of 27-fold (S-first variant), 24-fold (R first) or 19-fold (T first). With regard to environmental limit values, metal stability and organic carbon resources, sequential washing with different biosurfactants is a beneficial strategy for the remediation of smelter-contaminated soil with given properties. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metal Mobilization and Immobilization as Remediation Approaches for Soil Restoration)

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15 pages, 1365 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effect of Vermicompost Amendment on the Accumulation and Chemical Forms of Trace Metals in Leafy Vegetables Grown in Contaminated Soils

by Yu-Shan Yen, Kuei-San Chen, Hsin-Yi Yang and Hung-Yu Lai

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(12), 6619; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18126619 - 19 Jun 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2155

Abstract

(1) Background: Trace metal (TM) contamination of farmland soil in Taiwan occurs because factories dump wastewater into irrigation ditches. Since vermicompost affects the bioavailability of TMs, the objective of this study was to evaluate its effects on the accumulation of growth of TMs in leafy vegetables. (2) Methods: Two TM-contaminated soils and different types of pak choi and lettuce were used and amended with vermicompost. Besides soil properties, the study assessed vermicompost’s influence on the growth, accumulation, and chemical forms of TMs and on the health risks posed by oral intake. (3) Results: Vermicompost could increase the content of soil organic matter, available phosphorus, exchangeable magnesium, and exchangeable potassium, thus promoting the growth of leafy vegetables. The accumulation of four TMs in crops under vermicompost was reduced compared to the control, especially for the concentration of cadmium, which decreased by 60–75%. The vermicompost’s influence on changing the chemical form of TMs depended on the TM concentrations, type of TM, and crop species; moreover, blanching effectively reduced the concentrations of TMs in high-mobility chemical forms. Although vermicompost mostly reduced the amount of cadmium consumed via oral intake, cadmium still posed the highest health risk compared to the other three TMs. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metal Mobilization and Immobilization as Remediation Approaches for Soil Restoration)

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17 pages, 3159 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Short-Term Soil Flushing with Tannic Acid and Its Effect on Metal Mobilization and Selected Properties of Calcareous Soil

by Zygmunt Mariusz Gusiatin, Joeri Kaal, Agnieszka Wasilewska, Jurate Kumpiene and Maja Radziemska

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(11), 5698; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18115698 - 26 May 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2370

Abstract

Cadmium, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn removal via soil flushing with tannic acid (TA) as a plant biosurfactant was studied. The soil was treated for 30 h in a column reactor at a constant TA concentration and pH (3%, pH 4) and at variable TA flow rates (0.5 mL/min or 1 mL/min). In the soil leachates, pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved organic carbon, and metal concentrations were monitored. Before and after flushing, soil pH, EC, organic matter content, and cation exchange capacity (CEC) were determined. To analyze the organic matter composition, pyrolysis as well as thermally assisted hydrolysis and methylation coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry were used. Metal fractionation in unflushed and flushed soil was analyzed using a modified sequential extraction method. The data on cumulative metal removal were analyzed using OriginPro 8.0 software (OriginLab Corporation, Northampton, MA, USA) and were fitted to 4-parameter logistic sigmoidal model. It was found that flushing time had a stronger influence on metal removal than flow rate. The overall efficiency of metal removal (expressed as the ratio between flushed metal concentration and total metal concentration in soil) at the higher flow rate decreased in this order: Cd (86%) > Ni (44%) > Cu (29%) ≈ Zn (26%) > Pb (15%). Metals were removed from the exchangeable fraction and redistributed into the reducible fraction. After flushing, the soil had a lower pH, EC, and CEC; a higher organic matter content; the composition of the organic matter had changed (incorporation of TA structures). Our results prove that soil flushing with TA is a promising approach to decrease metal concentration in soil and to facilitate carbon sequestration in soil. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metal Mobilization and Immobilization as Remediation Approaches for Soil Restoration)

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16 pages, 2398 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Assessing the Influence of Compost and Biochar Amendments on the Mobility and Uptake of Heavy Metals by Green Leafy Vegetables

by Agnieszka Medyńska-Juraszek, Magdalena Bednik and Piotr Chohura

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(21), 7861; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17217861 - 27 Oct 2020

Cited by 39 | Viewed by 3781

Abstract

Municipal green-waste compost and wheat straw biochar amendments were assessed for their assistance in regulating the mobility of Cu, Pb, Zn, Cd, Cr and Ni and the uptake of these metals by five commonly grown green leafy vegetables (radish, lettuce, dill, spinach and parsley). The amendments were applied alone or combination of both in 5% and 10% (v/w) doses to soil contaminated with heavy metals. Vegetables were grown for eight weeks under greenhouse conditions, and in collected samples plant uptake and metal speciation in soil after sequential extraction procedure (BCR) were analyzed by Microwave Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometer (MP-AES). The results of our study show that organic amendments noticeably reduced the uptake of heavy metals by various leafy vegetables, with the best result of reduced leaf accumulation for single biochar and biochar–compost mix application at higher dose. Single application of green-waste municipal compost may have adverse effects on heavy metal uptake, increasing the risk of vegetable contamination with Zn, Pb and Cr. This study recommends careful selection of vegetables for cultivation when organic fertilizers are applied to soil with elevated contents of trace elements or co-application of compost in mix with biochar to mitigate possible negative effects and human health risk. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metal Mobilization and Immobilization as Remediation Approaches for Soil Restoration)

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13 pages, 5927 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effect of Soil Washing Solutions on Simultaneous Removal of Heavy Metals and Arsenic from Contaminated Soil

by Kanghee Cho, Eunji Myung, Hyunsoo Kim, Cheonyoung Park, Nagchoul Choi and Cheol Park

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(9), 3133; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17093133 - 30 Apr 2020

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 3510

Abstract

In this study, we investigated the feasibility of using a solution of sulfuric acid and phosphoric acid as an extraction method for soil-washing to remove Cu, Pb, Zn, and As from contaminated soil. We treated various soil particles, including seven fraction sizes, using sulfuric acid. In addition, to improve Cu, Pb, Zn, and As removal efficiencies, washing agents were compared through batch experiments. The results showed that each agent behaved differently when reacting with heavy metals (Cu, Pb, and Zn) and As. Sulfuric acid was more effective in extracting heavy metals than in extracting As. However, phosphoric acid was not effective in extracting heavy metals. Compared with each inorganic acid, As removal from soil by washing agents increased in the order of sulfuric acid (35.81%) < phosphoric acid (62.96%). Therefore, an enhanced mixture solution using sulfuric acid and phosphoric acid to simultaneously remove heavy metals and As from contaminated soils was investigated. Sulfuric acid at 0.6 M was adopted to combine with 0.6 M phosphoric acid to obtain the mixture solution (1:1) that was used to determine the effect for the simultaneous removal of both heavy metals and As from the contaminated soil. The removal efficiencies of As, Cu, Pb, and Zn were 70.5%, 79.6%, 80.1%, and 71.2%, respectively. The combination of sulfuric acid with phosphoric acid increased the overall As and heavy metal extraction efficiencies from the contaminated soil samples. With the combined effect of dissolving oxides and ion exchange under combined washings, the removal efficiencies of heavy metals and As were higher than those of single washings. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metal Mobilization and Immobilization as Remediation Approaches for Soil Restoration)

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Review

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19 pages, 1323 KiB

Open AccessReview

New-Generation Washing Agents in Remediation of Metal-Polluted Soils and Methods for Washing Effluent Treatment: A Review

by Zygmunt M. Gusiatin, Dorota Kulikowska and Barbara Klik

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(17), 6220; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17176220 - 27 Aug 2020

Cited by 38 | Viewed by 5272

Abstract

Soil quality is seriously reduced due to chemical pollution, including heavy metal (HM) pollution. To meet quality standards, polluted soils must be remediated. Soil washing/soil flushing offers efficient removal of heavy metals and decreases environmental risk in polluted areas. These goals can be obtained by using proper washing agents to remove HMs from soil. These washing agents should not pose unacceptable threats to humans and ecosystems, including soil composition. Currently, it is desirable to use more environmentally and economically attractive washing agents instead of synthetic, environmentally problematic chemicals (e.g., ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA)). The usefulness of novel washing agents for treatment of heavy metal-contaminated soils is being intensively developed, in terms of the efficiency of HM removal and properties of washed soils. Despite the unquestionable effectiveness of soil washing/flushing, it should be remembered that both methods generate secondary fluid waste (spent washing solution), and the final stage of the process should be treatment of the contaminated spent washing solution. This paper reviews information on soil contamination with heavy metals. This review examines the principles and status of soil washing and soil flushing. The novel contribution of this review is a presentation of the sources and characteristics of novel washing agents and chemical substitutes for EDTA, with their potential for heavy metal removal. Methods for treating spent washing solution are discussed separately. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metal Mobilization and Immobilization as Remediation Approaches for Soil Restoration)

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