Feasibility of using humic substances from compost to remove heavy metals (Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn) from contaminated soil aged for different periods of time

Abstract

There is a need for inexpensive, readily-available and environmentally-friendly soil washing agents to remediate polluted soils. Thus, batch washing experiments were performed to evaluate the feasibility of using a solution of humic substances (HS) extracted from compost as a washing agent for simultaneous removal of Cu, Cd, Zn, Pb and Ni from artificially contaminated soils aged for 1 month, 12 months and 24 months. The efficiency of metal removal in single and multiple washings and kinetic constants (equilibrium metal concentration qe and rate constant k from the second-order kinetic equation) were determined. On average, triple washing removed twice as much metal as that removed with a single washing. At pH 7 and a HS concentration of 2.2 g C L(-1), metal removal from all soils decreased in this order: Cd (79.1-82.6%) > Cu (51.5-71.8%) > Pb (44.8-47.6%) > Ni (35.4-46.1%) > Zn (27.9-35.8%). However, based on qe (mg kg(-1)), metal removal was in this order: Pb > Zn ≈ Cu > Ni > Cd. This difference was due to different concentrations of metals, which is typical for multi-metal contaminated soils. Regardless of washing mode, removal of Cd and Pb was not affected by soil age, whereas removal of Cu, Ni and Zn was higher in soils that had been aged for a shorter time. These results indicate that HS are suitable for remediating soil contaminated with multiple heavy metals in extremely high concentrations.

Keywords: Biosurfactant; Heavy metals; Humic substances; Soil aging; Soil washing.