The role of organo-zeolitic material in supporting phytoremediation of a copper mining waste dump

Abstract

The effect of applying organo-zeolitic (OZ) amendment in supporting phytoremediation of a copper mine waste dump, using a substrate obtained from Ľubietová, Central Slovakia, was studied. Three plant growth substrates were prepared: (i) the untreated substrate sample from the contaminated site (D–O), (ii) the contaminated sample treated with OZ material, with 82% D–O and 18% OZ (DO + OZ), (iii) the soil from a reference site (R). The largest amount of dry biomass was obtained from the DO + OZ sample. Whole plants grown on the original substrate (D–O) were accumulating a high concentration of Cu (3057 mg kg⁻¹). The plants root grown on DO + OZ sample accumulated highest Cu concentrations (3127 mg kg⁻¹), but in their aerial part, only 83.54 mg kg⁻¹ was accumulated. The translocation factor’s lower than the unit values prove that these plant species do not transfer heavy metals from root to shoot, this is why their heavy metal excluder role is evident. The value of the bioconcentration factor of the DO + OZ root/substrate obtained to be greater than the unit for Cu, Pb, Zn, Cd, Co, Ni, and Mn, suggests the OZ material’s positive contribution in the phytoremediation process that can be applied for these waste dumps.

Keywords:

• Heavy metals in mining waste
• organo-zeolite material
• bioconcentration and translocation

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Scientific Grant Agency of the Slovak Republic under Grant [VEGA 1/0538/15 and VEGA 2/0040/17].