Abstract
There are reports indicating that some children living close to the former primary lead smelter plant in Santo Amaro in Brazil have high Pb and Cd blood content. Previous studies have indicated a significant correlation between the contents of the soil and the flue dust collected in the plant chimney, supporting the hypothesis that the emissions were the main source of the contamination in the region. This work presents a characterization of the Santo Amaro soil close to the lead smelter and provides information to delimit the contamination and to identify the contaminant species. The main results shows that the contamination was enclosed in a region of about 500 m around the plant chimney and the contaminated soil depth was about 20 cm, which was due to the low solubility of the Pb species, their affinity with the organic matter and clay minerals of the soil, and the low permeability of the clay rich soil. The MLA analysis indicated that Pb is hosted in cerussite (>50%), plumbogummite, phosphohedyphane and pyromorphite (15 to 25% each), and Mn-oxides, goethite and clays (<10%) secondary in origin. The XAFS spectra of the soil show that the main Pb species in the contaminated soil is PbCO3, which confirms that cerussite is the dominant host for Pb. The leaching test results show that Pb and Cd are available for solubilization, which characterizes the soil collected close to the Santo Amaro smelter as hazardous solid waste. This work can be used as a preliminary support for the site clean-up initiatives.
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Acknowledgements
This study was supported by the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (Grant Number 484094/2011-4). The Laboratory of Electron Microscope (LAMUME, UFBA) and the Department of Technical Police (DPT, Bahia) are acknowledged for the SEM analysis. The Brazilian Synchrotron Light Laboratory (LNLS, Brazil) is acknowledged for the XAS measurements. Dr. Marcio Medeiros Soares and Dr. Santiago J.A. Figueroa from the LNLS are acknowledged for valuable help on the measurements and data processing. This paper is dedicated to the memory of Prof. Roberto Cerrini Villas-Bôas (1943–2016), a great source of inspiration for Mining and Metallurgical Engineers and for Environmental Geologists in Brazil.
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de Andrade Lima, L.R.P., Bernardez, L.A. Characterization of the soil contamination around the former primary lead smelter at Santo Amaro, Bahia, Brazil. Environ Earth Sci 76, 470 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-017-6791-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-017-6791-6