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

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

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