[Metal removal from contaminated soil by co-planting phytoextraction and soil washing].

ABSTRACT

Combining the different soil remediation technologies can overcome the shortcoming of a single technique, for example, the combination of phyto-extraction with chemical washing can enhance the phytoextraction and build up an effective technology. In a pot experiment, the co-crop of Sedum alfredii and Zea mays was conducted, chemical washing was also applied with different mixtures of chelators (MC). Metals amounts washed by leaching, the uptake of metals by plants and the metals contents remained in soils were determined. Results showed that the co-crop combining with 10 mmol x L(-1) MC washing removed the highest amount of Zn and Cd,and after 2 crops, the removal rates reached 6.0% and 40.46% of the soil total metal respectively for Zn and Cd, which were higher than those for the only co-planting. Soil analysis showed that the two successive co-crops with MC washings decreased soil Cd,Zn and Pb by 27.8% - 44.6%,12.6% -16.5% and 3.6% - 5.7%, respectively. Chemical washing with 50 mmol x L(-1) MC affected the growth of S. alfredii and resulted in higher metal contents in thereafter leachate water than the other less concentrated washing agents. EDDS ([S, S]-ethylenediaminedisuccinic acid) enhanced the phytoextraction of Cd and Zn but did not effectively wash Pb. Zn and Cd removal mainly depended on phytoextraction while Pb removal relied on MC-washing in this combined technology, by which the multi-metals contamination problem could be resolved.