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Mass balance of metals during the phytoremediation process using Noccaea caerulescens: a pot study

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Abstract

There are two widely used methods to estimate the time taken for phytoremediation for the removal of the target pollutants, i.e., using the data of metal uptake by the harvested parts of the selected plant or using the decrement in average element content between the beginning and end of the remediation. The latter not only depends on sampling points but is also determined by sampling time because even if the soil is initially perfectly homogenized, plant growth itself heterogenizes the soil as time goes by. In this study, phytoremediation was tested on one homogenized soil obtained from various soil samples taken within an e-waste dismantling and recycling site, and the remediation time for different points of bulk and rhizosphere soil was estimated using the two methods. Phytoremediation efficiency, as assessed by the change in soil metal concentrations over 100 days, widely varied depending on which of the six soil compartments of the pot was sampled, and the standard deviations of Cd, Zn, Pb, and Cu increased as the experiment proceeded, indicating the inaccuracy of this method. When applied to rhizosphere soil, this method led to a large overestimation of phytoremediation efficiency for Cd and Zn, which was 81- and 77-fold that was obtained by measuring the actual amount of metals taken up by Noccaea caerulescens. The significant difference between the two methods indicated that the blended soil became heterogeneous during the phytoremediation process because the species extracted metals from different soil parts, manifested by the variation in the metal content. The gap between these two estimation methods decreased when the soil was mixed thoroughly at the end of the experiment. This work shows that calculating the metal decontamination efficiency based on the measurement of the actual amount of metal taken by the plant is more robust than estimating it based on the evolution of soil metal concentration over time. In addition, our study reveals that using N. caerulescens may not be appropriate in Pb- or Cu-polluted soil, since this species mobilized these metals but did not extract them.

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Data availability

The datasets used or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article.

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Funding

This study received financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project Nos. 21876014 and 41872144) and the National Science and Technology Major Project (No. 2016ZX05046–002).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. KLETOR Ministry of Education, Yangtze University, Wuhan, China

    Wenxiang He, Aogui Long, Chunming Zhang & Jie Luo

  2. University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK

    Min Cao

Authors
  1. Wenxiang He
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  2. Aogui Long
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  3. Chunming Zhang
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  4. Min Cao
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  5. Jie Luo
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Contributions

Conceptualization: Wenxiang He, Jie Luo; data curation: Aogui Long, Jie Luo; methodology: Chunming Zhang; funding acquisition: Wenxiang He, Chunming Zhang, Jie Luo; writing—original draft: Wenxiang He, Aogui Long, Jie Luo; writing—review and editing: Min Cao. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Jie Luo.

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The manuscript entitled, “Mass balance of metals during the phytoremediation process using Noccaea caerulescens: a pot study” is prepared in accordance with the Guide for Authors available on the journal’s website and it has not been published elsewhere in part or in its entirety. All authors attest to the validity of its contents, and agree to its submission in Environmental Science and Pollution Research.

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The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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He, W., Long, A., Zhang, C. et al. Mass balance of metals during the phytoremediation process using Noccaea caerulescens: a pot study. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 8476–8485 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11216-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11216-x

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