The analysis of leaching behavior of harmful substances, such as arsenic, is one of the parameters of risk assessment resulting from the storage or economic use of coal waste. The leachability depends both on the environmental conditions of the storage area as well as on the properties of the waste material itself. There are a number of leaching tests that allow to model specific conditions or measure the specific properties of the leaching process. The conducted research aimed at comparing two methods with different application assumptions. The study of arsenic leaching from waste from the hard coal enrichment process was carried out in accordance with the Polish PN-EN 12457 standard and the US TCLP procedure. The leaching results obtained with both methods did not exceed the limit values of this parameter, defined in the Polish law. Both methods were also characterized by the good repeatability of the results. The use of an acetic acid solution (TCLP method) resulted in three times higher arsenic leaching from the examined waste compared to the use of deionized water as a leaching fluid (method PN-EN 12457). Therefore, the use of organic acid tests for mining waste intended for storage with municipal waste should be considered, as the results of the basic test based on clean water leaching may be inadequate to the actual leaching of arsenic under such environmental conditions.
Water mint (Mentha aquatica L.) belongs to the arsenic tolerant plant species suitable for cultivation
in Central European climate conditions. Therefore, its possible application for remediation of contaminated soil
was investigated in pot and field experiments. Two M. aquatica plants of different origin, i) commercially market-available mint plants, and ii) plants habituated at the arsenic contaminated former mining area in southern
Tuscany (Italy) were tested for their arsenic uptake, transformation, and speciation. The total arsenic concentrations in the experimental soils varied from 21 to 1573 mg As kg-1, the mobile fractions did not exceed 2% of total
soil arsenic. The mint plants originating from the contaminated area were able to remove ~400 µg of arsenic
per pot, whereas the commercial plant removed a significantly lower amount (~300 µg of arsenic per pot). Only
arsenite and arsenate, but no organoarsenic compounds were identified in both stems and leaves. Arsenate was
the predominant arsenic compound and reached up to 80% regardless of the origin of the mint plants. Although
M. aquatica seems to be able to grow in contaminated soils without symptoms of phytotoxicity, its efficiency to
remove arsenic from the soil is limited as can be demonstrated by total elimination of As from individual pots
not exceeding 0.1%. Moreover, the application of plants originating from the contaminated site did not result in
sufficient increase of potential phytoextraction efficiency of M. aquatica. Although not suitable for phytoextraction the M. aquatica plants can be used as vegetation cover of the contaminated soil at the former mining areas
To improve bioremediation of arsenic (As) contamination in soil, the use of microorganisms to efficiently reduce As and their assessment of genetic erosion by DNA damage using genomic template stability (GTS) evaluation and using RAPD markers were investigated. The five sites examined for microorganisms and contaminated soils were collected from affected gold mining areas. The highest As concentration in gold mining soil is 0.72 mg/kg. Microorganism strains isolated from the gold mining soil samples were tested for As removal capacity. Two bacterial isolates were identified by 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis and morphological characteristics as Brevibacillus reuszeri and Rhodococcus sp. The ability to treat As in nutrient agar (NA) at 1,600 mg/L and contaminated soil samples at 0.72 mg/kg was measured at 168 h, revealing more efficient As removal by B. reuszeri than Rhodococcus sp. (96.67% and 94.17%, respectively). Both species have the capacity to remove As, but B. reuszeri shows improved growth compared to the Rhodococcus sp. B. reuszeri might be suitable for adaptation and use in As treatment. The results are in agreement with their genetic erosion values, with B. reuszeri showing very little genetic erosion (12.46%) of culture in As concentrations as high as 1,600 mg/L, whereas 82.54% genetic erosion occurred in the Rhodococcus sp., suggesting that Rhodococcus sp. would not survive at this level of genetic erosion. Therefore, B. reuszeri has a high efficiency and can be used for soil As treatment, as it is capable to tolerate a concentration of 0.72 mg/kg and as high as 1,600 mg/L in NA.
The aim of the study was verification of the response of chamomile (Matricaria recutita (L.) Rauschert), peppermint (Mentha x piperita) lemon balm (Melissa officinalis L.), and sage (Salvia officinalis L.) on the elevated contents of inorganic As species in soils. The ability of herbs to accumulate arsenic was tested in pot experiment in which soils were contaminated by As(III) and As(V). The As(III), As(V), AB (arsenobetaine), MMA (monomethylarsonic acid) and DMA (dimethylarsinic acid) ions were successfully separated in the Hamilton PRP-X100 column with high performance-liquid chromatography-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (HPLC-ICP-MS) techniques. The study examined total arsenic contents in soil and plants, as well as the mobility of the arsenic species from the soil into the studied plants. Peppermint demonstrated the highest arsenic concentration and phytoaccumulation among studied plants. The sequential chemical extraction showed that arsenic in the contaminated soil was mainly related to the oxide and organic-sulfide fractions. The results showed that the oxidized arsenic form had a greater ability to accumulate in herbs and was more readily absorbed from the substrate by plants. Research has shown that soil contaminated with As(III) or As(V) has different effects on the arsenic content in plants. The plant responses to strong environmental pollution varied and depended on their type and the arsenic species with which the soil was contaminated. In most cases it resulted in the appearance of the organic arsenic derivatives.
Isatis cappadocica Desv. is a newly found As-hyperaccumulator showing very high remediation efficiency in polluted soils. We studied the effects of arsenic at 0-1400 μM concentrations on seed germination, relative root length, relative shoot height, and root and shoot biomass in young seedlings of I. cappadocica. The seeds were from Iranian arsenic-contaminated mine spoils and from a non-contaminated population. The control for reference was brassica (Descurenia sofia). Germination decreased significantly versus the control with increasing arsenic concentrations. The response to arsenic exposure differed between the I. cappadocica populations and D. sofia. I. cappadocica from mine spoil seeds showed strong resistance to the highest As concentration, with no adverse effects until the 1000 μM dose. Germination from non-mine seeds of I. cappadocica decreased to 89.6% at 1400 μM As. D. sofia germination was completely inhibited at 400 μM As. Relative root length (RRL) and relative shoot height (RSH) decreased with increasing As concentration. Overall, RRL correlated with RSH. Shoot height and root length were more sensitive to arsenic than other endpoints, and might be used as arsenic toxicity indicators. I. cappadocica showed more As tolerance than the reference brassica.
Arsenic is one of the most harmful pollutants in groundwater. In this paper, the Nepali bio sand filter (BSF) was modi-fied with different bio-adsorbents, and proved to be an efficient method for arsenic removal from groundwater. Three dif-ferent bio-adsorbents were used to modify the Nepali BSF. Iron nails and biochar BSF, ~96% and ~93% arsenic removal was achieved, within the range of WHO guidelines. In iron nails, BSF and biochar BSF ~15 dm3∙h–1 arsenic content water was treated. In the other two BSFs, rice-husk and banana peel were used, the arsenic removal efficiency was ~83% of both BSFs. Furthermore, the efficiency of rice-husk and banana peel BSFs can be increased by increasing the surface area of the adsorbent or by reducing the flow rate.
Popular statistical techniques, such as Spearman's rank correlation matrix, principal component analysis (PCA) and multiple linear regression analysis were applied to analyze a large set of water quality data of the Rybnik Reservoir generated during semiannual monitoring. Water samples collected at 9 sampling sites located along the main axis of the reservoir were tested for 14 selected parameters: concentrations of co-occurring elements, ions and physicochemical parameters. The aim of this study was to estimate the impact of those parameters on inorganic arsenic occurrence in Rybnik Reservoir water by means of multivariate statistical methods. The spatial distribution of arsenic in Rybnik Power Station reservoir was also included. Inorganic arsenic As(III), As(V) concentrations were determined by hydride generation method (HG-AAS) using SpectrAA 880 spectrophotometer (Varian) coupled with a VGA-77 system for hydride generation and ECT-60 electrothermal furnace. Spearman's rank correlation matrix was used in order to find existing correlations between total inorganic arsenic (AsTot) and other parameters. The results of this analysis suggest that As was positively correlated with PO43-; Fe and TDS. PCA confirmed these observations. Principal component analysis resulted in three PC's explaining 57% of the total variance. Loading values for each component indicate that the processes responsible for As release and distribution in Rybnik Reservoir water were: leaching from bottom sediments together with other elements like Cu, Cd, Cr, Pb, Zn, Ni, Ca (PC1) and co-precipitation with PO43-, Fe and Mn (PC3) regulated by physicochemical properties like T and pH (PC2). Finally, multiple linear regression model has been developed. This model incorporates only 8 (T, pH, PO43-, Fe, Mn, Cr, Cu, TDS) out of initial 14 variables, as the independent predictors of total As contamination level. This study illustrates the usefulness of multivariate statistical techniques for analysis and interpretation of complex environmental data sets.
In this research, the high arsenic content dust of copper smelting, as a raw material, the extraction of copper and arsenic from the high arsenic content dust in the leaching system containing acidic and alkaline compounds was investigated. Meanwhile, the effects of acid/alkaline initial concentration, liquid to solid ratio, leaching temperature, leaching time on the leaching rate of copper and arsenic were studied. The optimum conditions for the leaching of high arsenic content dust and preparation of copper arsenate were determined. The results showed that acidic/alkaline leaching of high arsenic content dust was particularly effective. 93.2% of the copper, and 91.6% of the arsenic were leached in an acidic leaching process and 95% of the arsenic, while less than 3% of the copper, less than 5% of the antimony, less than 2% of the bismuth was also leached in an alkaline leaching process. A new method (the parallel flow drop precipitate method) was developed in the synthesis of copper arsenate process. The parallel flow drop method was employed to adjust the molar ratio (copper to arsenic) of the mixed solution of the acid-leaching solution and the alkali-leaching solution by taking the drop acceleration of an acidic leaching solution and an alkaline leaching solution at 10 mL/min and 12 mL/min, at a temperature of 60°C and a reaction time of 1 h. Copper arsenate was prepared by mixing an acidic leaching solution and an alkaline leaching solution. The main phases of copper arsenate were CuHAsO4·1.5H2O and Cu5As4O15·9H2O. Copper arsenate contained 30.13% copper and 31.10% arsenic.