Abstract
Organic matter (OM) plays a pivotal role in adsorptive behavior, speciation, and bioavailability of nutrients and metal(loids) in soils. However, the effects of OM on adsorption, fractionation, and bioavailability of antimony (Sb) in soils is largely unknown. In this study, the effects of two types of exogenous OM, including humic acid (HA) and fulvic acid (FA), on Sb bioavailability were compared in soils spiked with 1000 mg Sb kg-1 and incubated for 3 months under constant conditions. Treated soils were then subjected to single and sequential extractions using a Simplified Bioaccessibility Extraction Test (SBET) and BCR fractionation method as well as kinetic and desorption tests. Furthermore, SEM-EDX elemental maps of antimony were studies to better understand the distribution of antimony and its associations with soil elements. The kinetic data for amended and unamended soils fitted well with the pseudo-second order model, demonstrating that chemisorption might be the rate determining step. Bioaccessibility of antimony increased up to 65% in HA soils and OM additions increased acid-soluble fraction of Sb by approximately 40% (HA) and 75% (FA), compared to the control soils. OM amendments remarkably increased desorption of Sb from soils, whereas the maximum uptake capacity of Sb reduced in OM treated soils. The residual fraction accounted for 92% of total Sb in experimental soils, which was shifted to more labile fractions after OM amendments. The results of this research revealed that OM addition can greatly affect the bioaccessibility, distribution pattern and adsorption of Sb in Sb-impacted soils.
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The authors declare that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the paper and its figures and tables. Should any raw data files be needed in another format they will be made available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
The first author Saeed Bagherifam gratefully acknowledges the scholarship provided by the University of New England, Australia for his PhD program. We thank the Environmental Analysis Laboratory (EAL) of the Southern Cross University NATA (National Association of Testing Authorities) ISO17025 accredited commercial and research support facility for assisting in the characterization of soil samples.
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Saeed Bagherifam: Conceptualization, Investigation including performing the experiments and data collection, Formal analysis, Methodology, Writing - original draft, review and editing. Trevor C. Brown: Review & editing, Supervision. Prof. Eric D. van Hullebusch: Constructive suggestions for improving manuscript, Review & editing. Ravi Naidu: Review & editing, Supervision.
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Highlights
Organic amendments decrease the maximum adsorption capacity of Sb in soil.
Percent desorption of Sb in soils increases in organic matter amended soils
Organic amendments increase the bioaccessibility of Sb by up to 65%.
Labile fraction of Sb rises by 75% with organic amendments.
Organic amendments can increase soil bioavailability and bioaccessibility of Sb.
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Bagherifam, S., Brown, T.C., Naidu, R. et al. The effects of exogenous organic matter addition on bioaccessibility, adsorption kinetics and fractionation of antimony in soils. Water Air Soil Pollut 234, 580 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-023-06607-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-023-06607-y