Abstract
Chromium is considered an environmental pollutant of much concern whose toxicity depends, to a great extent, on its valence state, with Cr(VI) being more soluble, bioavailable, and toxic, compared to Cr(III). Nanoremediation is a promising strategy for the remediation of metal pollutants by changing their valence state. However, among other aspects, its effectiveness for soil remediation is seriously hampered by the interaction of nanoparticles with soil organic matter. In this study, soil was (i) amended with two doses of a municipal solid organic waste and (ii) artificially polluted with 300 mg Cr(VI) kg−1 DW soil. After a period of aging, a nanoremediation treatment with nanoscale zero-valent iron particles (1 g nZVI kg−1 DW soil) was applied. The efficiency of the remediation treatment was assessed in terms of Cr(VI) immobilization and recovery of soil health. The presence of the organic amendment caused (i) a decrease of redox potential, (ii) Cr(VI) immobilization via its reduction to Cr(III), (iii) a stimulation of soil microbial communities, and (iv) an improvement of soil health, compared to unamended soil. By contrast, nZVI did not have any impact on Cr(VI) immobilization nor on soil health. It was concluded that, unlike the presence of the organic amendment, nanoremediation with nZVI was not a valid option for soils polluted with Cr(VI) under our experimental conditions.
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Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to Dr. Juan Carlos Raposo from SGIker Service of the UPV/EHU for the technical assistance and to Juan Vilela from CEA (Vitoria-Gasteiz) for providing access to the soil of this study.
Funding
This work was supported by MINECO (AGL 2015-64481-C2-1-R and AGL2016-76592-R), European Union (PhytoSUDOE-SOE1/P5/E0189), and Basque Government (GV IT1018-16). RGL received a pre-doctoral grant from the Basque Government.
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Lacalle, R.G., Garbisu, C. & Becerril, J.M. Effects of the application of an organic amendment and nanoscale zero-valent iron particles on soil Cr(VI) remediation. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 31726–31736 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-09449-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-09449-x