Soil heavy metal pollution from Pb/Zn smelting regions in China and the remediation potential of biomineralization |
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Affiliation: | 1. School of Metallurgy and Environment, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China;2. School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China;3. Department of Science and Environmental Studies, The Education University of Hong Kong, Tai Po, Hong Kong 999077, China;4. School of Geosciences and Info-physics, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China |
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Abstract: | Smelting activities pose serious environmental problems due to the local and regional heavy metal pollution in soils they cause. It is therefore important to understand the pollution situation and its source in the contaminated soils. In this paper, data on heavy metal pollution in soils resulting from Pb/Zn smelting (published in the last 10 years) in China was summarized. The heavy metal pollution was analyzed from a macroscopic point of view. The results indicated that Pb, Zn, As and Cd were common contaminants that were present in soils with extremely high concentrations. Because of the extreme carcinogenicity, genotoxicity and neurotoxicity that heavy metals pose, remediation of the soils contaminated by smelting is urgently required. The primary anthropogenic activities contributing to soil pollution in smelting areas and the progressive development of accurate source identification were performed. Due to the advantages of biominerals, the potential of biomineralization for heavy metal contaminated soils was introduced. Furthermore, the prospects of geochemical fraction analysis, combined source identification methods as well as several optimization methods for biomineralization are presented, to provide a reference for pollution investigation and remediation in smelting contaminated soils in the future. |
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Keywords: | Corresponding authors. Heavy metals Smelting contaminated soils Source identification Remediation |
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