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Use of batch leaching tests to quantify arsenic release from excavated urban soils with relatively low levels of arsenic

  • Soils, Sec 4 • Ecotoxicology • Research Article
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose

In Japan, the excavated soils produced from constructions projects, which contain relatively low levels of arsenic (As), are considered as a potential concern if they could release significant amount of As to the environment. The aim of this study was to investigate the As leaching from excavated alkaline soils and, in particular, the influence of drying methods, pH of extracting solution, and consecutive washing on As leaching from these soils.

Materials and methods

Four excavated alkaline soils obtained from different construction sites in Tokyo, Japan, were used in this study. The soils were pretreated by three drying methods (air-dried, 40 °C-dried, and freeze-dried). Sequential extraction procedure was applied to partition As into five operationally defined chemical fractions. Batch leaching tests (initial pH-controlled leaching test and consecutive washing test) were conducted to investigate the As release under different leaching conditions.

Results and discussion

The As contents in the four soils were 9.22, 79.4, 6.75, and 11.7 mg kg−1, respectively, and As was primarily associated with the residual phase. Arsenic leaching was strongly dependent on the extracting solution pH values. Strongly acidic extracting solution (pH 2) led to circumneutral leachates and limited As mobility, whereas the strong alkaline-extracting solution (pH 12) greatly enhanced the As release from these soils. The consecutive washing test results revealed a long-term release of As from these excavated soils. The pollution potential indices (PPIs) were successfully used to evaluate the pollution threat of As leaching from excavated soils. In addition, different drying methods resulted in variations in the short- and long-term release of As from these excavated soils.

Conclusions

The results revealed that the soil pretreatment and the leaching conditions should be considered if we want to use batch tests for the contamination assessment of excavated urban soils from construction projects. Different drying methods and single extraction may lead to misestimation of the As pollution level. High extraction efficiency with strong alkaline-extracting solution (pH 12) reveals that it could potentially be used to wash As from excavated alkaline soils.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Environment Research and Technology Development Fund of the Ministry of the Environment, Japan (5-1606). The XAFS spectroscopy experimentation was conducted using a Beamline BL14B2 at the SPring-8, Hyogo, Japan, supported by the Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (proposal numbers: 2015A1667 and 2015B1565). We also wish to thank the anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments that improved this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, 2-24-16 Naka, Koganei, Tokyo, 184-8588, Japan

    Jining Li, Tomoya Kosugi, Shohei Riya, Akihiko Terada & Masaaki Hosomi

  2. Department of Bioapplications and Systems Engineering (BASE), Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, 2-24-16 Naka, Koganei, Tokyo, 184-8588, Japan

    Yohey Hashimoto

  3. State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Dayangfang 8, Beijing, 100012, People’s Republic of China

    Hong Hou

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  1. Jining Li
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  2. Tomoya Kosugi
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  3. Shohei Riya
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  4. Yohey Hashimoto
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  5. Hong Hou
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  6. Akihiko Terada
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  7. Masaaki Hosomi
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Correspondence to Masaaki Hosomi.

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Responsible editor: Dong-Mei Zhou

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Li, J., Kosugi, T., Riya, S. et al. Use of batch leaching tests to quantify arsenic release from excavated urban soils with relatively low levels of arsenic. J Soils Sediments 17, 2136–2143 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-017-1669-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-017-1669-5

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