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Advanced Developments and Research on Sustainable Management of Industrial and Mining Contaminated Soils

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Resources and Sustainable Utilization".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 September 2021) | Viewed by 9957

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Mohammad Ibrahim Al-Wabel

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Guest Editor

Soil Sciences Department, College of Food & Agricultural Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Interests: soil and water remediation; biochar synthesis and application; nanoclay; greywater; water treatment and reuse
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Adel R.A. Usman

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Guest Editor

1. Soil Sciences Department, College of Food & Agricultural Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
2. Department of Soils and Water, Faculty of Agriculture, Assiut University, Assiut 71526, EgyptHomepage: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Adel_Usman
Interests: soil remediation and rehabilitation; soil heavy metals; soil conditioners; biochar; carbon mineralization

Prof. Dr. Abdullah Alfarraj

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Soil Sciences Department, College of Food & Agricultural Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Interests: soil remediation and rehabilitation; assessing urban soil pollution; monitoring dust pollution; soil minerology
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Dr. Munir Ahmad

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Soil Sciences Department, College of Food & Agricultural Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Interests: engineering/designing and application of biochar for sustainable environment; monitoring, assessment and remediation of organic and inorganic pollutants in soil and water
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Various sources of pollutants can increase the levels of heavy metals in different environmental compartments. Potentially toxic metals sources for the soil can be lithogenic or anthropogenic. Anthropogenic activities due to rapid urbanization and industrialization could result in the release of high quantities of undesirable potentially toxic metals into the environment. Generally, potentially toxic metals are considered the most dangerous contaminants because of their non-degradability and long-term persistence in the environment. Potentially toxic metals may be released into the environment through vehicle emissions, by chemical industries, mining activities, coal combustion, in municipal solid waste, and as dust particles deposited onto the soil surface. Therefore, it is essential to develop sustainable approaches (including the development of new toxic metal-immobilizing agents) to manage and rehabilitate metal-contaminated soils.

This Special Issue aims to collect and present breakthrough research on the remediation and rehabilitation of metal-contaminated soils. The scope of this Special Issue covers but is not limited to the following topics:

Soil remediation techniques including in situ immobilization;
Industrial and mining soils remediation and rehabilitation;
Development of new immobilizing agents based on clay minerals and bio-amendments for the immobilization and rehabilitation of metal-contaminated soils and the improvement of their quality;
Biochar and its modified forms as valuable soil additives for in situ immobilization of potentially toxic metals;
Biochar modification as a remediation technology for the sustainable management of metal-contaminted soils.

Prof. Dr. Mohammad Ibrahim Al-Wabel
Prof. Adel R.A. Usman
Prof. Abdullah Alfarraj
Dr. Munir Ahmad
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. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2400 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

soil remediation
soil rehabilition
mining soil
industrial soil
in-situ immobiliztion
immobilizing agents
pollutants
toxic trace elements
soil amendments
biochars

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 18085 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Evaluating the Impact of Crop Layout Changes on N and P Nutrient Balance: A Case Study in the West Liaohe River Basin, China

by Zijuan Zhao, Beilei Fan and Dong Liu

Sustainability 2021, 13(14), 7982; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13147982 - 16 Jul 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1877 | Correction

Abstract

Regional crop layout has changed significantly due to climate, policy, and other factors, which has impacted farmland nutrient balance. Here, we evaluated the impact of crop layout changes on N and P nutrient balance in the West Liaohe River Basin from 2000–2015. The study area has long been in a N and P surplus state. The unit N surplus exhibited a downward trend and the unit P surplus showed an increasing trend. Significant correlations existed between planting areas and nutrient surplus. The N and P surplus layout was mainly concentrated in the West Liaohe River lower reaches basin. The planting area of wheat must be reduced and the areas of maize and soybean must be controlled to adjust the N and P balance and reduce the environmental pollution risk. Chemical fertilizer and seed inputs are the main sources of N input. Furthermore, combining farming and pastoral farming is conducive to improving N and P use efficiency. Manure can be absorbed by farmland, the ratio of organic and chemical fertilizers can be reasonably set, and chemical fertilizer application can be reduced. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Developments and Research on Sustainable Management of Industrial and Mining Contaminated Soils)

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18 pages, 3697 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Long-Term Application of Organic Wastes Improves Soil Carbon and Structural Properties in Dryland Affected by Coal Mining Activity

by Ahmed Ali Abdelrhman, Lili Gao, Shengping Li, Jinjing Lu, Xiaojun Song, Mengni Zhang, Fengjun Zheng, Huijun Wu and Xueping Wu

Sustainability 2021, 13(10), 5686; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13105686 - 19 May 2021

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2231

Abstract

Organic wastes have a positive impact on soil physical and chemical properties in the agroecosystems. However, its main effects on soil organic carbon (SOC) or total organic carbon, TOC (SOC and coal-C) contents as well as their effects on soil physico-chemical properties are still unclear. Two types of organic wastes (maize straw and manure) were utilized in dryland affected by mining activities to quantify their relative effect on soil physico-chemical properties. Regression analysis was used to assess the relationship between the soil physical properties, SOC, and TOC as well as their respective contributions to improving these properties. Treatments included control (CK), straw (S), low manure (LM), medium manure plus straw (S-MM), and high manure plus straw (S-HM). The results showed that SOC, soil bulk density, mean weight diameter (MWD), soil total porosity, soil penetration resistance, saturated hydraulic conductivity, and soil infiltration rate were strongly influenced by the application of organic wastes. A stronger linear relationship between SOC and the MWD, (R² = 0.93, p < 0.05) compared to that between TOC and MWD indicated the important role of SOC in improving soil aggregation relative to the effect of TOC. According to the principal component analysis (PCA), the application of organic wastes had stronger effects on SOC contents and physical properties than TOC (SOC and coal-C). These findings advance our understanding of the actual effect of organic wastes on soil physical properties and SOC in dryland affected by mining activities and could inform fertilizer management decisions to improve soil properties. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Developments and Research on Sustainable Management of Industrial and Mining Contaminated Soils)

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16 pages, 3533 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Kinetic and Isotherm Studies of Ni²⁺ and Pb²⁺ Adsorption from Synthetic Wastewater Using Eucalyptus camdulensis—Derived Biochar

by Muhammad Shafiq, Abdulrahman Ali Alazba and Muhammad Tahir Amin

Sustainability 2021, 13(7), 3785; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13073785 - 29 Mar 2021

Cited by 35 | Viewed by 2433

Abstract

The production of biosorbents by waste biomass has attracted considerable attention due to the low cost and abundance of the raw materials. Here biochar produced from Eucalyptus camdulensis sawdust (EU-biochar) via pyrolysis at 600 °C was used as a potential biosorbent for Ni²⁺ and Pb²⁺ metal ions from wastewater. Characterization experiments indicated the formation of C- and O-bearing functional groups on the EU-biochar surface, while shifts and changes in the shape of C–H bands suggested the adsorption of Ni²⁺ and Pb²⁺ onto EU-biochar by interacting with surface carboxylic groups. Pb²⁺ was adsorbed more quickly than Ni²⁺, indicating a faster and stronger interaction of Pb²⁺ with EU-biochar compared to Ni²⁺. As the initial concentrations of both metal ions increased, the percentage removal decreased, whereas increasing the EU-biochar dose improved the percentage removal but impaired the adsorption capacity for Ni²⁺ and Pb²⁺. The adsorption capacity could only be improved without affecting the percentage removal of both ions by increasing the pH of the metal solutions. The sorption efficiency of EU-biochar and the removal mechanism of Ni²⁺ and Pb²⁺ were further explored using non-linear and linear forms of kinetic and isotherm models. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Developments and Research on Sustainable Management of Industrial and Mining Contaminated Soils)

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18 pages, 3048 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Successful Application of Eucalyptus Camdulensis Biochar in the Batch Adsorption of Crystal Violet and Methylene Blue Dyes from Aqueous Solution

by Muhammad Tahir Amin, Abdulrahman Ali Alazba and Muhammad Shafiq

Sustainability 2021, 13(7), 3600; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13073600 - 24 Mar 2021

Cited by 47 | Viewed by 2579

Abstract

Eucalyptus camdulensis biochar (Ec-bio) was used to adsorb crystal violet (CV) and methylene blue (MB) dyes, which was optimized and further evaluated using different isotherm and kinetic models. Microscopy and spectroscopy techniques showed the interactions of the dyes with the surface functional groups of the Ec-bio, resulting in the removal of the dyes from aqueous solution. Both dyes were immediately uptaken, with equilibrium reached in 60 min, with a higher sorption efficiency of CV compared to MB. Thermodynamic parameters showed endothermic adsorption and the nonspontaneous adsorption of both dyes onto the Ec-bio. Both the adsorption capacity and percentage removal increased with the increasing solution pH from 2.0 to 4.0 and to 10 for CV and MB. An increase in adsorption capacity was observed upon increasing the initial concentrations, with a corresponding decrease in the percentage removal. The pseudo-second-order (PSO) and Elovich kinetic models (nonlinear approach) were a good fit to the data of both dyes, confirming a chemisorptive adsorption process. The Langmuir isotherm fitted well to the CV data, supporting its monolayer adsorption onto the Ec-bio, while the Freundlich isotherm was a good fit to the MB dye data, suggesting the surface heterogeneity of the Ec-bio. The Dubinin–Radushkevich isotherm was a good fit to the adsorption CV data compared with the MB dye, suggesting the physisorption of both dyes onto the Ec-bio due to its mean free energy of adsorption of <8 kJ mol⁻¹. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Developments and Research on Sustainable Management of Industrial and Mining Contaminated Soils)

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