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The roles of humic substances in the interactions of phenanthrene and heavy metals on the bentonite surface

  • Soils, Sec 1 • Soil Organic Matter Dynamics and Nutrient Cycling • Research Article
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Abstract

Purpose

The fate of complex contaminants in soils has aroused increasing attention of environmental scientists. Although heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are often encountered together in contaminated sites, the interactions between the co-existing contaminants with clay minerals and humic substances require further investigation.

Materials and methods

Phenanthrene, lead (Pb), and cadmium (Cd) were selected as the representatives to investigate their interactions on the surface of bentonite (primarily montmorillonite) and humic acid/fulvic acid-coated bentonite in batch sorption experiments. Their bonding strengths were assessed in terms of extractability by various chemical extraction methods.

Results and discussion

The humic acid coating on bentonite enhanced the Pb and Cd sorption capacity, especially at the high Pb loading where the linear sorption coefficient was dramatically increased. The fulvic acid coating had less significant effects because of its higher solubility. The co-existing phenanthrene promoted the Pb sorption to a greater extent on humic acid-coated bentonite due to greater phenanthrene sorption, while the phenanthrene sorption was also promoted by the co-existing Pb. However, the enhancement was less obvious for Cd sorption, possibly due to greater hydration and weaker complexation with oxygen-containing groups despite higher electron polarizability of Cd. On the other hand, the presence of humic acid coating increased both (weakly bound) exchangeable fraction and (strongly bound) residual fraction of sorbed Pb. In contrast, co-existing phenanthrene and Pb resulted in redistribution of each other from weakly bound to strongly bound fractions. Such strengthened bonding of both Pb and phenanthrene indicated the significance of strong cation-π bonding on the bentonite. Yet, such enhancement might be alleviated by the humic acid coating.

Conclusions

Understanding the intercorrelated interactions of humic substances, phenanthrene, and heavy metals on clay minerals would help us to maneuver an effective in situ remediation of complex soil contamination.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China (project no. 41272383, 41225004, and 21407121), Guangzhou Municipal Science and Technology Plan Project (contract no: 2012J2200020), and State Scholarship Fund (no. 2011638506) from China Scholarship Council for the financial support of this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, China

    Weihua Zhang, Juan Zheng, Pingping Zheng & Rongliang Qiu

  2. Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution Control and Remediation Technology, Guangzhou, 510275, China

    Weihua Zhang & Rongliang Qiu

  3. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China

    Daniel C. W. Tsang

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  1. Weihua Zhang
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  2. Juan Zheng
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  3. Pingping Zheng
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  5. Rongliang Qiu
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Correspondence to Daniel C. W. Tsang.

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Responsible editor: Gabriele E. Schaumann

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Zhang, W., Zheng, J., Zheng, P. et al. The roles of humic substances in the interactions of phenanthrene and heavy metals on the bentonite surface. J Soils Sediments 15, 1463–1472 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-015-1112-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-015-1112-8

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