Abstract
Purpose
Irrational application of chemical fertilizers aggravated soil acidification in China, which resulted in increased cadmium (Cd) activity in soil. The aim of the study was to reduce the Cd activity in soil by applying alkaline functional fertilizer (AFF), which was prepared from NPK compound, dolomite and biochar.
Methods
Incubation trials, Cd adsorption and desorption experiments, and kinetics and thermodynamics tests were applied to reveal the function and mechanism of two AFFs (DAFF and DBCAFF) in reducing Cd activity in soil.
Results
The results showed that the AFF could significantly decrease Cd activity in soil by increasing the Cd adsorption capacity and reducing its desorption rate. Cd adsorption characteristics fitted the Langmuir and pseudo-second-order kinetic model, which indicated that Cd adsorption was a single-surface chemical adsorption including fast and slow processes. The thermodynamics results showed that Cd adsorption was a spontaneous endothermic reaction and was promoted by the AFF. Dolomite and biochar in the AFF could increase the Cd2+ adsorption sites of soil particles and the binding energy between soil and Cd2+, thus increasing Cd2+ adsorption and preventing the desorption of adsorbed Cd2+. The mechanism of the AFF reducing Cd activity in soil was that the AFF could promote Cd2+ electrostatic adsorption, ion exchange of Cd2+ with Ca2+ and Mg2+, formation of a complex between Cd2+ and oxygen-containing functional groups (OFGs) and precipitation between Cd2+ and OH-, CO32- and PO43-.
Conclusions
This study provided an effective and simple innovative method to solve soil Cd pollution by replacing conventional fertilizer with the AFF.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the China Agriculture Research System (CARS-31) and the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2018YFD0201101).
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Yuechen Li: Data curation, Formal analysis, Writing – original draft. Jiaquan Jiang: Investigation, Software. Lidan Zhang: Methodology. Chengxiang Gao: Investigation. Jiayan Fan: Investigation. Yaowei Zhan: Investigation. Shaolong Sun: Data curation. Xiaolin Fan: Conceptualization, Writing – review & editing, Funding acquisition, Project administration, Methodology, Supervision.
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Li, Y., Jiang, J., Zhang, L. et al. Impact and its mechanism of alkaline functional fertilizer on cadmium activity in soil. J Soils Sediments 23, 3990–4001 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-023-03571-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-023-03571-2