Collateral benefits and hidden hazards of soil arsenic during abatement assessment of residential lead hazards

Abatement of soil-lead hazards may also reduce human exposure to other soil toxins, thereby achieving significant collateral benefits that are not accounted for today. This proposition was tested with the specific case of soil-arsenic, where 1726 residential soil samples were collected and analyzed for lead and arsenic. The study found that these two toxins coexisted in most samples, but their concentrations were weakly correlated, reflecting the differing sources for each toxin. Collateral benefits of 9% would be achieved during abatement of the lead-contaminated soils having elevated arsenic concentrations. However, a hidden hazard of 16% was observed by overlooking elevated arsenic concentrations in soils having lead concentrations not requiring abatement. This study recommends that soil samples collected under HUD programs should be collected from areas of lead and arsenic deposition and tested for arsenic as well as lead, and that soil abatement decisions consider soil-arsenic as well as soil-lead guidelines.     

Analysis of phytochelatin complexes in the lead tolerant vetiver grass [Vetiveria zizanioides (L.)] using liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry

Ethylenediamene tetraacetic acid (EDTA) has been used to mobilize soil lead (Pb) and enhance plant uptake for phytoremediation. Chelant bound Pb is considered less toxic compared to free Pb ions and hence might induce less stress on plants. Characterization of possible Pb complexes with phytochelatins (PC_n, metal-binding peptides) and EDTA in plant tissues will enhance our understanding of Pb tolerance mechanisms. In a previous study, we showed that vetiver grass (Vetiveria zizanioides L.) can accumulate up to 19,800 and 3350 mg Pb kg⁻¹ dry weight in root and shoot tissues, respectively; in a hydroponics set-up. Following the basic incubation study, a greenhouse experiment was conducted to elucidate the efficiency of vetiver grass (with or without EDTA) in remediating Pb-contaminated soils from actual residential sites where Pb-based paints were used. The levels of total thiols, PC_n, and catalase (an antioxidant enzyme) were measured in vetiver root and shoot following chelant-assisted phytostabilization. In the presence of 15 mM kg ⁻¹ EDTA, vetiver accumulated 4460 and 480 mg Pb kg⁻¹ dry root and shoot tissue, respectively; that are 15- and 24-fold higher compared to those in untreated controls. Despite higher Pb concentrations in the plant tissues, the amount of total thiols and catalase activity in EDTA treated vetiver tissues was comparable to chelant unamended controls, indicating lowered Pb toxicity by chelation with EDTA. The identification of glutathione (referred as PC₁) (m/z 308.2), along with chelated complexes like Pb-EDTA (m/z 498.8) and PC₁-Pb-EDTA (m/z 805.3) in vetiver root tissue using electrospray tandem mass spectrometry (ES-MS) highlights the possible role of such species towards Pb tolerance in vetiver grass.     

建筑小区雨水径流的土壤渗透净化

讨论了建筑小区雨水径流的污染性、土壤渗透对小区径流的净化作用及土壤的渗透能力，提出了建筑小区雨水径流土壤渗透的工程实施方案。     

Distribution of heavy metal contents of urban soils in parks of Seville

Several metals in urban soils of Seville were extracted by two methods, which respectively give estimates of the available and ‘quasi total’ contents. Although the soils did not show strong heterogeneity in their general properties, high dispersion of the contents in those metals with greater relative availability, Cu, Pb and Zn, as compared to others suggested that pollution with these three metals could occur in some sampling sites. It was shown that the contents in these metals tend to increase as the historic quarters of the city are approached. Using reference values given by the Québec Ministry of Environment it was shown that those green areas closer to the historic centre present contents in Pb, Zn and particularly Cu that often exceed the acceptable limits for residential, recreational and institutional sites. From background contents for Seville soils estimated from a park located on the outskirts, a pollution load index (PLI) for each sampling site was calculated for the set of these three metals. It was shown that the PLI tends to increase as traffic density increases and as distance from main traffic decreases, but poor regressions were obtained, suggesting that other variables different from traffic should be considered.     

Electrokinetic-enhanced phytoremediation of soils: Status and opportunities

Phytoremediation is a sustainable process in which green plants are used for the removal or elimination of contaminants in soils. Both organic and inorganic contaminants can be removed or degraded by growing plants by several mechanisms, namely phytoaccumulation, phytostabilization, phytodegradation, rhizofiltration and rhizodegradation. Phytoremediation has several advantages: it can be applied in situ over large areas, the cost is low, and the soil does not undergo significant damages. However, the restoration of a contaminated site by phytoremediation requires a long treatment time since the remediation depends on the growth and the biological cycles of the plant. It is only applicable for shallow depths within the reach of the roots, and the remediation efficiency largely depends on the physico-chemical properties of the soil and the bioavailability of the contaminants. The combination of phytoremediation and electrokinetics has been proposed in an attempt to avoid, in part, the limitations of phytoremediation. Basically, the coupled phytoremediation–electrokinetic technology consists of the application of a low intensity electric field to the contaminated soil in the vicinity of growing plants. The electric field may enhance the removal of the contaminants by increasing the bioavailability of the contaminants. Variables that affect the coupled technology are: the use of AC or DC current, voltage level and mode of voltage application (continuous or periodic), soil pH evolution, and the addition of facilitating agents to enhance the mobility and bioavailability of the contaminants. Several technical and practical challenges still remain that must be overcome through future research for successful application of this coupled technology at actual field sites.     

Sequential sorption of lead and cadmium in three tropical soils

It is important to examine mechanisms of Pb and Cd sorption in soils to understand their bioavailability. The ability of three tropical soils to retain Pb, Cd, and Ca was evaluated. The objectives of this study were to (1) determine the extent to which soil sorption sites are metal specific, (2) investigate the nature of reactions between metals and soil surfaces, and (3) identify how metals compete for sorption sites when they are introduced to soils sequentially or concurrently. Lead was shown to be much less exchangeable than Cd and inhibited Cd sorption. Cadmium had little effect on Pb sorption, though both Ca and Cd inhibited the adsorption of Pb at exchange sites. Lead appears to more readily undergo inner-sphere surface complexation with soil surface functional groups than either Cd or Ca. Thus, regardless of when Pb is introduced to a soil, it should be less labile than Cd.     

外源铅在不同类型土壤的形态转化

采用为期60 d的室内培养方法探究南方典型红壤和灰壤中添加高浓度外源铅后Pb稳定化过程。结果表明,加入高浓度外源铅后,土壤有效态Pb含量在培养期内呈现先降低后稳定的趋势,培养30 d后DTPA(二乙烯三胺五乙酸)-Pb浓度基本达到稳定平衡,土壤离子交换态Pb、碳酸盐结合态Pb含量明显降低,形态-BAC风险评价方法表明,供试土壤均能在自然条件下降低铅的生态风险危害,能为修复铅污染土壤工程应用提供科学依据。     

Bioaccessibility of metals in soils and dusts contaminated by marine antifouling paint particles

Fragments of antifouling paint and environmental geosolids have been sampled from the island of Malta and analysed for total and bioaccessible metals. Total concentrations of Ba, Cd, Cu, Pb, Sn and Zn were two to three orders of magnitude higher in spent antifouling composites relative to respective values in background soils and road dusts. Paint fragments were visible in geosolids taken from the immediate vicinity of boat maintenance facilities and mass balance calculations, based on Ba as a paint tracer, suggested that the most contaminated soils, road dusts and boatyard dusts contained about 1%, 7% and 9%, respectively, of antifouling particles. Human bioaccessibilities of metals were evaluated in selected samples using a physiologically based extraction technique. Accessibilities of Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn in the most contaminated solids were sufficient to be cause for concern for individuals working in the boat repair industry and to the wider, local community.     

Availability and bio-accessibility of metals in the clay fraction of urban soils of Sevilla

The availability of Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Mn, Pb and Zn present in the finest size particles of urban soils is studied by comparing the concentrations in the clay fraction with those extracted from the whole soil by either single-extraction or sequential extraction method. Many metals are preferentially present in the finest particles as compared to coarser fractions. This is true for most metals studied, except Mn and, perhaps, Cd. Those metals present in the clay fraction are often in easily bio-accessible forms, especially Cu, Pb and Zn. The results suggest that bio-accessible forms of these three metals are distributed among the three sequential fractions, and even the fraction considered as ‘residual’ is also bio-accessible to a significant extent. The statistical analysis shows some distinctions among metals that are compared to the ‘urban’, ‘natural’, or intermediate behaviour of the various metals as proposed earlier in the literature.     

干湿循环对Pb污染土固化体力学和浸出特性的影响

为研究干湿循环作用对Pb污染土固化体力学和浸出特性的影响规律,采用普通硅酸盐水泥(OPC)和磷酸镁水泥(MPC)2种固化剂对Pb污染土进行固化/稳定化处理。基于无侧限抗压强度实验、渗透实验和浸出实验,探讨干湿循环作用对Pb污染土固化体力学和浸出特性的影响规律,并结合压汞实验分析干湿循环作用对Pb污染土固化体力学和浸出特性影响的微观机制。结果表明:干湿循环作用均会降低OPC和MPC固化体的力学特性,MPC固化体耐久性要优于OPC固化体;通过浸出实验发现,OPC和MPC固化体浸出浓度均随干湿循环次数的增加而增加,当干湿循环次数大于5次时,OPC固化体浸出浓度高于浸出安全标准,而MPC固化体的浸出浓度均低于浸出安全标准;通过压汞实验发现,干湿循环作用破坏了固化土的结构完整性,增大了固化体中大孔隙(孔径＞1 μm)体积。这是导致Pb污染土力学特性降低的根本原因,而固稳机制的不同是干湿循环作用下OPC和MPC固化体浸出浓度差异的本质原因。     

Potential for microbially mediated redox transformations and mobilization of arsenic in uncontaminated soils

Surface soil samples, which had no significant As contamination, were examined for As(V) reduction, As(III) oxidation and As mobilization capability. All five soil samples tested exhibited microbial As(V)-reducing activities both in aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Under aerobic conditions when As(V) reduction had almost ceased, oxidation of As(III) to As(V) occurred, whereas only As(V) reduction was observed under anaerobic conditions. In cultures incubated with As(III), As(III) was oxidized by indigenous soil microbes only under aerobic conditions. These results indicate that microbial redox transformations of As are ubiquitous in the natural environment regardless of background As levels. Mobilization through microbially mediated As(V) and Fe(III) reduction occurred both in the presence and absence of oxygen. Significant variation in dissolved As occurred depending on the Fe contents of soils, and re-immobilization of As arose in the presence of oxygen, presumably as a consequence of dissolved As(III) and Fe(II) oxidation. There was no apparent correlation between dissolved Fe(II) and As, suggesting that reductive dissolution of Fe(III) minerals does not necessarily determine the extent of As release from soils.     

铅同位素解析技术在工业园污染溯源中的应用

针对土壤中重金属污染溯源及解析不同污染源对土壤中铅的相对贡献率问题,以陕西西部某工业园区为例,采集土壤样品、铅锌冶炼厂矿石混合样、热电厂煤样及焦化厂混合煤样共40个,用ICP-MS测定样品的铅浓度及铅同位素比值(208Pb/204Pb、207Pb/204Pb、206Pb/204Pb).借助于铅同位素比值散点图来对比分析采样点土壤、背景点土壤和可能的污染源样品的铅同位素特征分布,判定其主要污染来源.用混合多元模型计算不同污染区域各污染源的贡献率,结果表明,土壤中的铅同位素比值落在铅锌矿石、炼焦用煤及热电燃煤及背景点的铅同位素比值之间,说明各端元介质均有可能对工业园区土壤中的铅污染有贡献.在铅同位素比值散点图中土壤铅浓度大于60 mg/kg的采样点的铅同位素比值集中落在热电燃煤与炼焦用煤附近.统计定量解析结果可知,对工业园区土壤铅污染的贡献大小依次为热电厂、焦化厂和铅锌冶炼厂.研究表明,铅同位素指纹解析技术用于定性与定量解析工业园区土壤铅污染效果较为理想.     

Organochlorine pesticides and polybrominated diphenyl ethers in irrigated soils of Beijing, China: Levels, inventory and fate

Limited information on the levels, inventory and fate of Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in the soils irrigated by sewage or wastewater is available. In this study, variation in concentrations, profiles and fate of OCPs and PBDEs were investigated using soil samples collected from a region irrigated by sewage, mixed water and clean water in the east of Beijing, China. No significant variation was observed among groups, except for penta-BDEs. The measured ΣOCPs and ΣPBDEs residues ranged from 6.4 to 171.2 ng g⁻¹ (dw) and 501.9 to 3310.7 pg g⁻¹ (dw), respectively. ΣDDTs and BDE-209 were the most abundant congeners accounting for about 76% of ΣOCPs and 93% of ΣPBDEs. Concentrations of hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs), dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDTs) and its major degradation products, and hexachlorobenzene (HCB) ranged from 1.2 to 11.4 ng g⁻¹ (dw), 4.0 to 155.6 ng g⁻¹ (dw) and 0.3 to 3.4 ng g⁻¹ (dw), respectively. The major DDT degradation products were p,p′-DDT and p,p′-DDE. The major hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) isomer in irrigated soils is β-HCH, reflecting its higher affinity to solids and resistance to degradation than other isomers. Both α-HCH/β-HCH and p,p′-DDT/p,p′-DDE ratios were log-normally distributed and negatively correlated to log(ΣHCHs) and log(ΣDDTs), respectively, suggesting no significant recent application of OCPs. Individual BDE congeners, ΣPBDEs and ΣOCPs were significantly correlated with total organic carbon (TOC). Moreover, a good correlationship between ΣPBDEs and black carbon (BC) was obtained but not between ΣOCPs and BC. Sewage irrigation did not have obvious effect on their contaminant levels and inventory of OCPs and PBDEs.     

Assessment of phenylurea herbicides sorption on various Mediterranean soils affected by irrigation with wastewater

The retention values of two herbicides, chlorotoluron and isoproturon, in five Mediterranean soils were assessed by two different approaches, a dynamic method, using a batch technique (BT) and a static method, using a soil saturated paste (SP). The SP method led in all cases to lower herbicide sorption when compared with BT, although pesticide distribution constants from both methods were linearly related for the set of used soils (R² ? 0.99) showing that both methods similarly reflected the behaviour of the different soils. Low-quality water, evaluated by employing recycled urban wastewater, did not modify herbicide sorption when compared with high quality water, in any soil and with any method.     

Chelating agent-assisted electrokinetic removal of cadmium, lead and copper from contaminated soils

An integrated experimental program was conducted to remove Cd, Pb and Cu from contaminated soil. The chelate agents nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA), diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (DTPA) and ethyleneglycol tetraacetic acid (EGTA) were used as washing solutions under different pH conditions and concentrations. Results showed that the extraction efficiency for Cd in decreasing order was NTA > EGTA > DTPA, while for Pb and Cu it was DTPA > NTA > EGTA. The use of higher chelate concentrations did not necessarily result in greater extraction efficiency. Electrokinetic remediation was applied by conditioning anolyte-catholyte pH to neutral values in order to avoid any potential alterations to the physicochemical soil properties. The removal efficiency for Cd was 65-95%, for Cu 15-60%, but for Pb was less than 20%. The phytotoxicity of the treated soil showed that the soil samples from the anode section were less phytotoxic than the untreated soil, but the phytotoxicity was increased in the samples from the cathode section.     

The water-soluble fraction of potentially toxic elements in contaminated soils: relationships between ecotoxicity, solubility and geochemical reactivity

To better understand the impacts posed by soil contamination to aquatic ecosystems it is crucial to characterise the links between ecotoxicity, chemical availability and geochemical reactivity of potentially toxic elements (PTE’s) in soils. We evaluated the adverse effects of water extracts obtained from soils contaminated by chemical industry and mining, using a test battery including organisms from different trophic levels (bacteria, algae and daphnids). These tests provided a quick assessment of the ecotoxicity of soils with respect to possible adverse effects on aquatic organisms although the ecotoxicological responses could be related to the solubility of PTE’s only to a limited extent.The analysis of results of bioassays together with the chemical characterisation of water extracts provided additional relevant insight into the role of conductivity, pH, Al, Fe, and Mn of soil extracts on toxicity to organisms. Furthermore, an important conclusion of this study was that the toxicity of extracts to the aquatic organisms could also be related to the soil properties (pH, Org C and Fe_ox) and to the reactivity of PTE’s in soils which in fact control the soluble fraction of the contaminants.The combined assessment of ecotoxicity in water fractions, solubility and geochemical reactivity of PTE’s in soils provided a more comprehensive understanding of the bioavailability of inorganic contaminants than ecotoxicological or chemical studies alone and can therefore be most useful for environmental risks assessment of contaminated soils.     

废铅酸蓄电池铅膏柠檬酸浸出动力学研究

通过研究废铅酸蓄电池铅膏柠檬酸-柠檬酸钠浸出过程中PbSO4转化率随时间变化,考查了物料粒度、搅拌速度和浸出温度对转化率的影响,建立了反应的动力学方程,并计算了浸出反应表观活化能。结果表明,减小物料粒度、提高浸出温度和适当提高搅拌速度,均可提高硫酸铅转化率。浸出反应表观活化能为67.82 kJ/mol,浸出反应受化学反应步骤控制。     

除草剂在土壤中的吸附行为研究

除草剂在土壤上的吸附和解吸行为是支配该除草剂在环境中的生物有效性和持久性的重要因素之一 ,同时对于预测除草剂在土壤和潜层水中的运动也是有重要作用。本文从吸附机理、实验技术、动力学、影响因素、常数的计算方法等方面阐述了除草剂在土壤中的吸附行为及其环境学意义。     

Differences in EDTA-assisted metal phytoextraction between metallicolous and non-metallicolous accessions of Rumex acetosa L.

Two common sorrel (Rumex acetosa) accessions, one from a Zn-Pb contaminated site (CS accession) and the other from an uncontaminated site (UCS accession), were hydroponically exposed to a mixture of heavy metals (Pb²⁺ + Zn²⁺ + Cd²⁺) with and without EDTA at an equimolar rate. The metallicolous CS accession showed a higher tolerance to metal treatment in the absence of the chelating agent, whereas the UCS accession was especially tolerant to EDTA treatment alone. Combination of metal and EDTA treatment resulted in a higher Pb accumulation in shoots of both accessions although plants hardly showed phytotoxic symptoms. Cd and Zn uptake was not augmented by EDTA addition to the polymetallic medium. Chelant-assisted Pb accumulation was 70% higher in the CS accession than in the UCS accession, despite the fact that the former accession evapotranspired less water than the UCS accession. These results support the existence of a non-selective apoplastic transport of metal chelates by R. acetosa roots, not related to transpiration stream.     

阿特拉津在土壤中的环境行为研究进展

概述了阿特拉津在土壤中的迁移、降解及其对植物的影响等环境行为,阐述了土壤组成、土壤pH值以及温度、湿度等因素对各种环境行为过程的影响,并结合目前国内外的研究现状,提出了阿特拉津环境行为新的研究方向。