Remediation of a Sandy Soil Contaminated with Cadmium, Nickel, and Zinc using an Insoluble Polyacrylate Polymer

Abstract

This study was carried out to investigate whether an insoluble polyacrylate polymer could be used to remediate a sandy soil contaminated with cadmium (Cd) (30 and 60 mg Cd kg⁻¹ of soil), nickel (Ni) (50 and 100 mg Ni kg⁻¹ of soil), zinc (Zn) (250 and 400 mg Zn kg⁻¹ of soil), or the three elements together (30 mg Cd, 50 mg Ni, and 250 mg Zn kg⁻¹ of soil). Growth of perennial ryegrass was stimulated in the polymer‐amended soil contaminated with the greatest amounts of Ni or Zn, and when the three metals were present, compared with the unamended soil with the same levels of contamination. Shoots of plants cultivated in the amended soil had concentrations of the metals that were 24–67% of those in plants from the unamended contaminated soil. After ryegrass had been growing for 87 days, the amounts of water‐extractable metals present in the amended soil varied from 8 to 53% of those in the unamended soil. The results are consistent with soil remediation being achieved through removal of the metals from soil solution.

Keywords:

• Cadmium
• contamination
• nickel
• polyacrylate polymers
• soil remediation
• zinc

Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the Portuguese government and the European Union through the project POCI/AMB/57586/2004 from the FCT with funds from FEDER. We thank José Falcão and Paula Gonçalves Silva for technical assistance.