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Combining potassium chloride leaching with vertical electrokinetics to remediate cadmium-contaminated soils

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Abstract

This study evaluated the feasibility of combining potassium chloride (KCl) leaching and electrokinetic (EK) treatment for the remediation of cadmium (Cd) and other metals from contaminated soils. KCl leaching was compared at three concentrations (0.2%, 0.5%, and 1% KCl). EK treatment was conducted separately to migrate the metals in the topsoil to the subsoil. The combined approach using KCl leaching before or after EK treatment was compared. For the single vertical EK treatment, the removal of Cd, lead (Pb), copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) from the topsoil (0–20 cm) was 9.38%, 4.80%, 0.95%, and 10.81%, respectively. KCl leaching at 1% KCl removed 84.06% Cd, 9.95% Pb, 4.34% Cu, and 19.93% Zn from the topsoil, with higher removal efficiency than that of the 0.2% and 0.5% KCl leaching treatments. By combining the KCl leaching and EK treatment, the removal efficiency of heavy metals improved, in particular for the 1% KCl + EK treatment, where the removal rate of Cd, Pb, Cu, and Zn from the upper surface soil reached 97.79%, 17.69%, 14.37%, and 41.96%, respectively. Correspondingly, the soil Cd content decreased from 4 to 0.21 mg/kg, and was below the Chinese standard limit of 0.3 mg/kg soil. These results indicate that 1% KCl + EK treatment is a good combination technique to mitigate Cd pollution from contaminated soils used for growing rice and leafy vegetables.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the National Science and Technology Key Projects of China (Nos. 2015BAD05B05; 2017YFD0801002); Natural Science Foundation of Inner Mongolia, China (No. 2015KF01); Science and Technology Project of Guangdong Province, China (No. 2018B030324003); Science and Technology Project of Guangzhou City of Guangdong Province, China (No. 201604020076).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory on Soil Environment and Waste Reuse in Agriculture of Guangdong Higher Education Institutes, College of Natural Resources and Environment, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, 510642, China

    Qiang Ma, Jun Li, Xinxian Long & Qi-Tang Wu

  2. School of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Newcastle (Australia) Singapore, 6 Temasek Blvd, Singapore, 038986, Singapore

    Charles C. C. Lee

  3. Inner Mongolia Research Institute of Metallurgy, Hohhot, 010010, China

    Yongmao Liu

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  1. Qiang Ma
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  6. Qi-Tang Wu
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Correspondence to Qi-Tang Wu.

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Ma, Q., Li, J., Lee, C.C.C. et al. Combining potassium chloride leaching with vertical electrokinetics to remediate cadmium-contaminated soils. Environ Geochem Health 41, 2081–2091 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-019-00259-w

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