Remediation of Smelter Contaminated Soil by Sequential Washing Using Biosurfactants

Zygmunt Mariusz Gusiatin, Jurate Kumpiene, Ivan Carabante, Maja Radziemska and Martin Brtnicky
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Zygmunt Mariusz Gusiatin: Department of Environmental Biotechnology, Faculty of Geoengineering, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, 10-719 Olsztyn, Poland
Jurate Kumpiene: Waste Science and Technology, Lulea University of Technology, 97187 Lulea, Sweden
Ivan Carabante: Waste Science and Technology, Lulea University of Technology, 97187 Lulea, Sweden
Maja Radziemska: Institute of Environmental Engineering, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Nowoursynowska 159, 02-776 Warsaw, Poland
Martin Brtnicky: Department of Agrochemistry, Soil Science, Microbiology and Plant Nutrition, Faculty of AgriSciences, Mendel University in Brno, Zemedelska 1, 61300 Brno, Czech Republic

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 24, 1-21

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.

Keywords: remediation; soil; copper; lead; saponin; tannic acid; rhamnolipids; organic carbon (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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