Back to Search
Start Over
Evaluation of the effect of small organic acids on phytoextraction of Cu and Pb from soil with tobacco Nicotiana tabacum
- Source :
- Chemosphere. 63:996-1004
- Publication Year :
- 2006
- Publisher :
- Elsevier BV, 2006.
-
Abstract
- Phytoremediation, the use of plants to extract contaminants from soils and groundwater, is a promising approach for cleaning up soils contaminated with heavy metals. However its use is limited by the time required for plant growth, the nutrient supply and, moreover, by the limited metal uptake capacity. Synthetic chelators have shown positive effects in enhancing heavy metal extraction, but they have also revealed several negative side-effects. The objective of this study was to investigate the use of three natural low molecular weight organic acids (NLMWOA) (citric, oxalic, and tartaric acid) as an alternative to synthetic chelators. Slurry-, column-, toxicity- and phytoextraction experiments were performed. For the phytoextraction experiment the three NLMWOA were applied to a copper- and a lead-contaminated soil respectively. A significant increase in copper uptake was visible only in the citric acid treatment (67 mg kg-1) in comparison to the EDTA treatment (42 mg kg-1). The NLMWOA application showed no enhanced effect concerning the lead phytoextraction. A possible explanation for this lack of significance could be the rate of the degradation of NLMWOA. This rate might well be too high for these heavy metals with low mobility and bioavailability such as lead. The amounts of NLMWOA applied to the soil were very high (62.5 mmol kg-1 of soil) and the effect was too little. In this respect EDTA, which was applied in very small amounts (0.125 mmol kg-1) was more efficient. Thus making NLMWOA unsuitable to enhance phytoextraction of heavy metals from soil.
- Subjects :
- Environmental Engineering
Soil test
Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis
Soil
chemistry.chemical_compound
Bioremediation
Tobacco
Soil Pollutants
Environmental Chemistry
Chelation
Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
Environmental engineering
General Medicine
General Chemistry
Phytoextraction process
Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
Pollution
Soil contamination
Phytoremediation
Biodegradation, Environmental
Lead
chemistry
Environmental chemistry
Soil water
Acids, Acyclic
Citric acid
Copper
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 00456535
- Volume :
- 63
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Chemosphere
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....28f3ee0d0189d73fc31ff9242fb28e38