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RESEARCH ARTICLE

Use of bentonite to control the release of copper from contaminated soils

Wanting Ling A B , Qing Shen C , Yanzheng Gao A D , Xiaohong Gu A and Zhipeng Yang A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A College of Resource and Environmental Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China.

B Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Environmental Remediation and Ecological Health, College of Natural Resources and Environmental Science, Zhejiang University, 310029 Hangzhou, China.

C Department of Food Sciences, the University of Reading, Whiteknights, Reading, RG6 6DW, UK.

D Corresponding author. Email: gaoyanzheng@njau.edu.cn

Australian Journal of Soil Research 45(8) 618-623 https://doi.org/10.1071/SR07079
Submitted: 6 June 2007  Accepted: 22 October 2007   Published: 7 December 2007

Abstract

A decrease in release and availability of heavy metals in soil has been of worldwide interest in recent years. Bentonite is a type of expandable montmorillonite clay, and has strong sorption for heavy metals. In this work, the control of amended bentonite on the release of copper (Cu2+) from spiked soils was investigated using a batch equilibrium technique. Sorption of Cu by bentonite was pH-dependent, and could be well described using the Langmiur model. Maximum sorption capacity of the bentonite used in this study was 5.4 mg/g, which was much greater than soils reported in the literature. The extent of Cu2+ release from spiked soils was correlated with slurry concentrations, pH, and soil ageing process. In all cases, the amendment of bentonite was observed to effectively decrease the release of Cu2+ from soils. The apparent aqueous concentrations of Cu2+ released from soils devoid of bentonite treatment were 113–1160% higher than those from the soils amended with bentonite. Moreover, the magnitude of Cu2+ release decreased with increasing amount of bentonite added to soils. The bentonite added was more effective in retaining Cu2+ in sorbents for aged contaminated soils. Such enhanced retention resulting from the presence of bentonite was observed within a wide pH range from 2.5 to 7.0. Bentonite, as one of the most abundant minerals in soils, is regarded to improve the soil overall quality. The results obtained from this work provide useful information on utilisation of bentonite to control the release of heavy metals from contaminated soils.

Additional keywords: heavy metals, soil, bentonite, clay, sorption, desorption, availability, remediation.


Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (20777036, 40701073), the National Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK2007580, BK2006518), the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (NCET T-06-0491), and the Foundation of Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Environment Remediation and Ecological Health (050302).


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