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Enhanced Techniques of Soil Washing for the Remediation of Heavy Metal-Contaminated Soils

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Abstract

Soil washing has been developed as one of the ex situ traditional remediation methods for heavy metal polluted soils. It has been found to be effective in metal extraction. However, due to the distribution and speciation in soils, most metal(loid)s are present in less mobile forms which limit the washing efficiency. Therefore, methods are studied to enhance the washing performance by increasing the metals solubility and availability. This paper introduces some currently used methods and technologies, including the optimization of washing variables, lowering soil pH, application of assisted amendments and integration of electro-kinetic remediation and ultrasonication to enhance the removal of metals. In addition, it also suggests some further studies.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2014B04814, 2015B05814, 2016B04314), Special Fund for Hydro-scientific Research in the Public Interest (201301017), Jiangsu Scientific Research Innovation Program of Ordinary Higher Education Graduate (SJZZ16_0083), Postgraduate Research and Practice Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province (SJCX17_0129), and Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2017B755X14).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Water Conservancy and Hydropower Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing, 210098, China

    Xu Yang, Xinyu Mao, Xiaohou Shao, Tingting Chang, Hengji Qin & Minhui Li

  2. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Jackson State University, 1400 J. R. Lynch Street, P.O. Box 17910, Jackson, MS, 39217, USA

    Fengxiang Han

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  1. Xu Yang
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  2. Xinyu Mao
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  3. Xiaohou Shao
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Correspondence to Xinyu Mao.

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Yang, X., Mao, X., Shao, X. et al. Enhanced Techniques of Soil Washing for the Remediation of Heavy Metal-Contaminated Soils. Agric Res 7, 99–104 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40003-018-0302-1

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