Redox chemistry of vanadium in soils and sediments: Interactions with colloidal materials, mobilization, speciation, and relevant environmental implications- A review

Sabry M Shaheen; Daniel S Alessi; Filip M G Tack; Yong Sik Ok; Ki-Hyun Kim; Jon Petter Gustafsson; Donald L Sparks; Jörg Rinklebe

doi:10.1016/j.cis.2019.01.002

Redox chemistry of vanadium in soils and sediments: Interactions with colloidal materials, mobilization, speciation, and relevant environmental implications- A review

Adv Colloid Interface Sci. 2019 Mar:265:1-13. doi: 10.1016/j.cis.2019.01.002. Epub 2019 Jan 14.

Authors

Sabry M Shaheen¹, Daniel S Alessi², Filip M G Tack³, Yong Sik Ok⁴, Ki-Hyun Kim⁵, Jon Petter Gustafsson⁶, Donald L Sparks⁷, Jörg Rinklebe⁸

Affiliations

¹ University of Wuppertal, School of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Institute of Foundation Engineering, Water- and Waste-Management, Laboratory of Soil- and Groundwater-Management, Pauluskirchstraße 7, 42285 Wuppertal, Germany; University of Kafrelsheikh, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Soil and Water Sciences, 33 516 Kafr El-Sheikh, Egypt; King Abdulaziz University, Faculty of Meteorology, Environment, and Arid Land Agriculture, Department of Arid Land Agriculture, Jeddah 21589, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
² University of Alberta, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Edmonton, Alberta, T6G 2E3, Canada.
³ Ghent University, Department of Green Chemistry and Technology, Ghent 9000, Belgium.
⁴ Korea University, O-Jeong Eco-Resilience Institute (OJERI) & Division of Environmental Science and Ecological Engineering, Seoul 02841, Republic of Korea.
⁵ Hanyang University, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, 222 Wangsimni-Ro, Seoul 04763, Republic of Korea.
⁶ Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Soil and Environment, Box 7014, 750 07 Uppsala, Sweden; KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Department of Sustainable Development, Environmental Science and Engineering, Teknikringen 10B, 100 44 Stockholm, Sweden.
⁷ University of Delaware, Delaware Environmental Institute, Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, Newark, Delaware, 19711, USA.
⁸ University of Wuppertal, School of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Institute of Foundation Engineering, Water- and Waste-Management, Laboratory of Soil- and Groundwater-Management, Pauluskirchstraße 7, 42285 Wuppertal, Germany; Sejong University, Department of Environment, Energy and Geoinformatics, Seoul 05006, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: rinklebe@uni-wuppertal.de.

PMID: 30685738
DOI: 10.1016/j.cis.2019.01.002

Abstract

Vanadium (V), although serving as an important component of industrial activities, has bioinorganic implications to pose highly toxic hazards to humans and animals. Soils and sediments throughout the world exhibit wide ranges of vanadium concentrations. Although vanadium toxicity varies between different species, it is mainly controlled by soil redox potential (E_H). Nonetheless, knowledge of the redox geochemistry of vanadium lags in comparison to what is known about other potentially toxic elements (PTEs). In particular, the redox-induced speciation and mobilization of vanadium in soils and sediments and the associated risks to the environment have not been reviewed to date. Therefore, this review aims to address 1) the content and geochemical fate of vanadium in soils and sediments, 2) its redox-induced release dynamics, 3) redox-mediated chemical reactions between vanadium and soil organic and inorganic colloidal materials in soil solution, 4) its speciation in soil solution and soil-sediments, and 5) the use of advanced geochemical and spectroscopic techniques to investigate these complex systems. Vanadium (+5) is the most mobile and toxic form of its species while being the thermodynamically stable valence state in oxic environments, while vanadium (+3) might be expected to be predominant under euxinic (anoxic and sulfidic) conditions. Vanadium can react variably in response to changing soil E_H: under anoxic conditions, the mobilization of vanadium can decrease because vanadium (+5) can be reduced to relatively less soluble vanadium (+4) via inorganic reactions such as with H₂S and organic matter and by metal-reducing microorganisms. On the other hand, dissolved concentrations of vanadium can increase at low E_H in many soils to reveal a similar pattern to that of Fe, which may be due to the reductive dissolution of Fe(hydr)oxides and the release of the associated vanadium. Those differences in vanadium release dynamics might occur as a result of the direct impact of E_H on vanadium speciation in soil solution and soil sediments, and/or because of the E_H-dependent changes in soil pH, chemistry of (Fe)(hydr)oxides, and complexation with soil organic carbon. Release dynamics of vanadium in soils may also be affected positively by soil pH and the release of aromatic organic compounds. X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) is a powerful tool to investigate the speciation of vanadium present in soil. X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) is often used to constrain the average valence state of vanadium in soils and sediments, and in limited cases extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) analysis has been used to determine the average molecular coordination environment of vanadium in soil components. In conclusion, this review presents the state of the art about the redox geochemistry of vanadium and thus contributes to a better understanding of the speciation, potential mobilization, and environmental hazards of vanadium in the near-surface environment of uplands, wetlands, and agricultural ecosystems as affected by various colloidal particles. Further research is needed to elucidate the geochemistry and speciation of vanadium in the dissolved, colloidal, and soil sediments phases, including the determination of factors that control the redox geochemistry of vanadium.

Keywords: Colloidal materials; Redox potential; Sediments; Vanadium; Wetland soils.

Publication types

Review