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Humic acid influencing soil’s arsenic transformation and functionality during soil’s remediation by iron-loaded polyethylene film

  • Soils, Sec 3 • Remediation and Management of Contaminated or Degraded Lands • Research Article
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose

Humic acid (HA) has an important effect on the environmental behaviors of arsenic. Arsenic has a higher affinity to iron, and arsenic transformation may bring more toxicity to soil’s microbial community. Applying C-rich substrate may affect soil’s functionality. There is few work to uncover the relation among them. So this work aimed to evaluate HA’s impact on arsenic transformation and soil’s functionality in arsenic-contaminated soil during remediation by iron-containing and C-rich material, iron-loaded polyethylene film (Pe-FeLs).

Materials and methods

Treatments were as follows: (T1) untreated arsenic-contaminated soil; (T2) arsenic-contaminated soil mixed with 0.1%, 0.3%, 0.5%, 1.0% (w/w) of HA; (T3) arsenic-contaminated soil mixed with 50 mg of Pe-FeLs; and (T4) arsenic-contaminated soil mixed with 50 mg of Pe-FeLs and with 0.1%, 0.3%, 0.5%, 1.0% (w/w) of HA. Arsenic and iron from soil were tested by extracting them in soil and measuring the concentration or species by ICP-OES, ICP-MS, or HPLC-ICP-MS. HA was tested by LC-OCD-OND. Soil respiration was measured using the absorption of carbon dioxide by sodium hydroxide. Biochemical properties were valued by measuring microbial biomass C (MBC) and N (MBN), dissolved organic C (DOC), total dissolved N (TDN), studying activities of dehydrogenase (Dehy), β-glucosidase (β-glu) and alkaline phosphatase (Phos), and calculating metabolic potential index (MI).

Results and discussion

In soil with Pe-FeLs and HA, HA induced the reduction of As(V) and arsenic transformation, due to HA’s competition for adsorption sites or forming HA-Fe-As complex because a higher concentration of HA could enable enough HA contact with Pe-FeLs to form HA-Fe complex. HA induced slightly iron release from Pe-FeLs because of HA’s acidity, which could promote arsenic transformation again. More toxic As(III) induced by arsenic transformation may bring higher toxicity to soil’s microbial community. Treatment with Pe-FeLs and HA induced the C/N cycles in soil higher than other treatments and positively affected soil’s microbial biomass. HA could enhance soil’s C/N cycles and enzymatic activities induced by the addition of Pe-FeLs, which could stimulate the growth of microbial biomass and increase C mineralization and immobilization of available N.

Conclusions

Pe-FeLs decreased arsenic concentration in soil, but a lower concentration of HA could negatively affect this process. More toxic As(III) from arsenic transformation negatively affect soil’s microbial community. HA could enhance arsenic transformation induced by Pe-FeLs. Pe-FeLs and HA significantly influenced the soil’s functionality. This work provided another evidence of a strong relation among arsenic transformation, iron-modified and C-rich remediation material, and soil’s functionality in the existence of HA.

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Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number: 41907121).

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Author notes

  1. Xiaozhuan Zhang, Xibao Shi, Zhenbang Tian, Zuohua Huang contributed equally to this work and are co-first authors.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Henan International Joint Lab of Key Technology in Water Treatment, School of Environments, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang, 453007, Henan, China

    Xiaozhuan Zhang, Kejiang Zhao, Guohua Zhao & Guifen Zhu

  2. College of Life Sciences, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang, 453007, Henan, China

    Xibao Shi

  3. Henan Institute of Chemistry, Henan Academy of Sciences, Zhengzhou, 450002, Henan, China

    Zhenbang Tian, Zuohua Huang, Kejiang Zhao & Liang Zhao

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  1. Xiaozhuan Zhang
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  2. Xibao Shi
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  5. Kejiang Zhao
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Correspondence to Xiaozhuan Zhang.

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Zhang, X., Shi, X., Tian, Z. et al. Humic acid influencing soil’s arsenic transformation and functionality during soil’s remediation by iron-loaded polyethylene film. J Soils Sediments 23, 1403–1414 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-022-03411-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-022-03411-9

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