Stabilization of Multiple Heavy Metal Contaminated Soils Using Biological Materials

Abstract

Heavy metal stabilization is a promising technology of soil remediation with short period and easy operation that has seen a recent explosion of interest. The effectiveness of Pb2+, Cu2+, Zn2+ and Ni2+ stabilization upon the waste biologic materials addition was investigated in this study. A contrast experiment was performed with materials including shell powder, bone meal and biochar. The results showed that biologic stabilizers have good stabilization ability of heavy metals in soil. The 2.5 wt.% shell powder and 2.5 wt.% bone meal treatment was the most effective, with solid stabilization performance on Pb2+, Cu2+, Zn2+ and Ni2+ by reduce the heavy metal cations over 87.69%, 92.40%, 63.37% and 80.32% respectively. The combination of shell powder and bone meal improved the rate of multiple heavy metal contaminated soil stabilization, while decreased alkalization of soil. In addition, the average production cost of mixed stabilizers in this study was around 1800 RMB/ton, with average of 200 RMB/ton remediation cost for heavy metal contaminated soil stabilization using these additives. The success of the mixed stabilizers with biological materials showed a promising and cost-effective approach for multiple heavy metal contaminated soil remediation.