Inhibition effect of glyphosate on the acute and subacute toxicity of cadmium to earthworm Eisenia fetida.

The acute and subacute toxicities of cadmium (Cd) to earthworm Eisenia fetida in the presence and absence of glyphosate were studied. Although Cd is highly toxic to E. fetida, the presence of glyphosate markedly reduced the acute toxicity of Cd to earthworm; both the mortality rate of the earthworms and the accumulation of Cd decreased with the increase of the glyphosate/Cd molar ratio. The subcellular distribution of Cd in E. fetida tissues showed that internal Cd was dominant in the intact cells fraction and the heat-stable proteins fraction. The presence of glyphosate reduced the concentration of Cd in all fractions, especially the intact cells. During a longer period of exposure, the weight loss of earthworm and the total Cd absorption was alleviated by glyphosate. Thus, the herbicide glyphosate can reduce the toxicity and bioavailability of Cd in the soil ecosystems at both short- and long-term exposures.

Enhanced-electrokinetic remediation of copper-pyrene co-contaminated soil with different oxidants and pH control.

Electrokinetic (EK) remediation has potential to simultaneously remove heavy metals and organic compounds from soil, but the removal percent of these pollutants is very low in general if no enhancing treatment is applied. This study developed a new enhanced-EK remediation technology to decontaminate a heavy metal-organic compound co-contaminated soil by applying different oxidants and pH control. A red soil was used as a model clayed soil, and was spiked with pyrene and Cu at about 500 mg kg(-1) for both to simulate real situation. Bench-scale EK experiments were performed using four oxidants (H(2)O(2), NaClO, KMnO(4), and Na(2)S(2)O(8)) and controlling electrolyte pH at 3.5 or 10. After the treatments with 1.0 V cm(-1) of voltage gradient for 335 h, soil pH, electrical conductivity, and the concentrations and chemical fractionations of soil pyrene and Cu were analyzed. The results showed that there was significant migration of pyrene and Cu from the soil, and the removal percent of soil pyrene and Cu varied in the range of 30-52% and 8-94%, respectively. Low pH favoured the migration of soil Cu, while KMnO(4) was the best one for the degradation of pyrene among the tested oxidants, although it unfortunately prevented the migration of soil Cu by forming Cu oxide. Application of Na(2)S(2)O(8) and to control the catholyte pH at 3.5 were found to be the best operation conditions for decontaminating the Cu-pyrene co-contaminated soil.

[Effect of different soil types on the remediation of copper-pyrene compound contaminated soils by EK-oxidation process].

The effect of different soil types (red soil,yellow-brown soil and black soil) on the electrokinetic (EK)-oxidation remediation of heavy metals-organic pollutant contaminated soil was studied in laboratory-scale experiments. Copper and pyrene were chosen as model pollutant, and 12% H2O2, 10% hydroxypropyl-beta-cyclodextrin and 0.01 mol x L(-1) NaNO3 solution were added into the anode and cathode cell. The applied voltage was 1 V x cm(-1). After 15 days of EK remediation, the removal rate of pyrene and copper in red soil, yellow-brown soil and black soil were 38.5%, 46.8%, 51.3% for pyrene and 85.0%, 22.6%, 24.1% for Cu, respectively. The high pH of black soil produced high electroosmotic flow and increased the exposure of oxidants and pollutants, meanwhile the low clay content was also conducive to the desorption of pyrene. The low pH and organic matter of red soil affected the chemical species distribution of Cu and increased its removal rate. It is concluded that soil pH, clay content and heavy metal speciation in soil are the dominant factors affecting the migration and removal efficiency of pollutants.