Simulation and risk assessment of arsenic by Hydrus-3D and CalTOX in a typical brownfield site

Tianhao He; Ye Li; Ye Huang; Erkai He; Yan Li; Liangyu Qu; Fangfang Ding; Ruihe Jin; Mingzhe Han; Lina Yuan; Weizhen Xue; Ruijuan Qu; Wang Zheng; Yunfeng Xie; Xingmei Liu; Ling Zhao; Min Liu

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.130892

Simulation and risk assessment of arsenic by Hydrus-3D and CalTOX in a typical brownfield site

J Hazard Mater. 2023 Apr 15:448:130892. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.130892. Epub 2023 Jan 30.

Authors

Tianhao He¹, Ye Li², Ye Huang¹, Erkai He¹, Yan Li¹, Liangyu Qu¹, Fangfang Ding¹, Ruihe Jin¹, Mingzhe Han¹, Lina Yuan¹, Weizhen Xue³, Ruijuan Qu⁴, Wang Zheng⁵, Yunfeng Xie⁶, Xingmei Liu⁷, Ling Zhao³, Min Liu⁸

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Geographic Information Science of the Ministry of Education, School of Geographic Sciences, East China Normal University, 500 Dongchuan Road, Minhang District, Shanghai 200241, China.
² Key Laboratory of Geographic Information Science of the Ministry of Education, School of Geographic Sciences, East China Normal University, 500 Dongchuan Road, Minhang District, Shanghai 200241, China. Electronic address: yli@geo.ecnu.edu.cn.
³ School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resources Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, Jiangsu, China.
⁵ Institute of Surface-Earth System Science, School of Earth System Science, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China.
⁶ Technical Centre for Soil, Agriculture and Rural Ecology and Environment, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Beijing 100012, China.
⁷ College of Environmental Natural Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China.
⁸ Key Laboratory of Geographic Information Science of the Ministry of Education, School of Geographic Sciences, East China Normal University, 500 Dongchuan Road, Minhang District, Shanghai 200241, China. Electronic address: mliu@geo.ecnu.edu.cn.

PMID: 36758430
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.130892

Abstract

Accurate quantification of arsenic migration and accumulation in brownfield site is critical for environmental management and soil remediation. However, the researches simulating arsenic in brownfield site in China are limited due to sparse data and complex migration behaviors. In this study, we simulated historic arsenic contamination using Hydrus-3D in an abandoned brownfield site in Hebei, China, from 1972 to 2019. Atmospheric discharge, wastewater leakage, solid waste discharge and tank leakage were calculated according to the factory processes for model simulation. Based on the results of Hydrus-3D, we assessed health risk of arsenic in this site. The results showed that total arsenic input to the soil surface from 4 pathways was 24.6 tons, the solid waste discharge was the highest contributor. The accumulation process mainly occurred in the unsaturated zone due to clay and silty clay absorbed arsenic and thus slow down the migration process. While in the saturation zone, abundant groundwater promoted migration of arsenic, resulting in widespread distribution of contaminated area. The model results represented good performance between simulated and measured values. Sensitivity analysis indicated that adsorption constant and water conductivity were the most influential parameters. Heath risk assessment showed that arsenic contamination continues to threaten resident health.

Keywords: Arsenic; Brownfield site; Hydrus-3D; Migration and accumulation simulation; Risk assessment.