A Soluble Humic Substance for the Simultaneous Removal of Cadmium and Arsenic from Contaminated Soils.
With abundant oxygen-containing functional groups, a humic substance (HS) has a high potential to remediate soils contaminated by heavy metals. Here, HS was first extracted from a leonardite and analyzed for its chemical compositions and spectroscopic characteristics. Then it was assessed for its ability as a washing agent to remove Cd and As from three types of soils (red soil, black soil, and fluvo-aquic soil) that were spiked with those contaminants (Cd: 40.5-49.1 mg/kg; As: 451-584 mg/kg). The operational washing conditions, including the pH and concentration of the HS, washing time and cycles, and liquid-soil ratio, were assessed for Cd and As removal efficiency. At pH 7, with an HS concentration (3672 mg C/L) higher than its critical micelle concentration and a liquid-soil ratio of 30, a single washing for 6-12 h removed 41.9 mg Cd/kg and 199.3 mg As/kg from red soil, 33.5 mg Cd/kg and 291.5 mg As/kg from black soil, and 30.4 mg Cd/kg and 325.5 mg As/kg from fluvo-aquic soil. The removal of Cd and As from the contaminated soils involved the complexation of Cd and As with the carboxyl and phenolic groups of HS. Outcomes from this research could be used to develop a tailor-made HS washing agent for the remediation of Cd- and As-contaminated soils with different properties.
['Bi|Dongxue|D|', 'Yuan|Guodong|G|0000-0002-2008-3099', 'Wei|Jing|J|', 'Xiao|Liang|L|', 'Feng|Lirong|L|', 'Meng|Fande|F|0000-0002-6985-0877', 'Wang|Jie|J|']
D000328:Adult D001151:Arsenic D002104:Cadmium D002681:China D052918:Environmental Restoration and Remediation D005260:Female D006801:Humans D006812:Humic Substances D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D008903:Minerals D012987:Soil D012989:Soil Pollutants
humic substance cadmium arsenic FTIR soil pollution soil remediation