An Integrated Method Incorporating Sulfur-Oxidizing Bacteria and Electrokinetics to Enhance Removal of Copper from Contaminated Soil

Article Abstract:

A combination of two methods are studied to remove copper from contaminated soil. Bioleaching transforms metal sulfides to sulfates, converting them to soluble salts for recovery. Electrokinetics applies direct current to soil which leads to the migration of metals through pore fluid to the cathode. In this UK study soil was amended with sulfur and incubated in moisture at a steady temperature. Indigenous sulfur-oxidizing bacteria partly acidified the soil, preparing the soil for the electrokinteic method, This method resulted in a 5.1 fold increase in soil sulfate concentration and used 66% less electric power.

Pollutants produced & recycled, University of Oxford, Bacterial leaching, Electrokinetics, Maini, Giacomo, Sharman, Ajay K., Sunderland, Garry, Knowles, Christopher J., Jackman, Simon A., NERC Institute of Virology and Environmental Microbiology, IBS Viridian Ltd.

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A new method to measure effective soil solution concentration predicts copper availability to plants

Article Abstract:

Copper concentrations in 29 different soils from the UK, Chile, and China, and the plant Lepidium heterophyllum grown in these soils, are measured by EDTA extraction. DGT measurements are taken in the soil to determine metal concentrations, while plant materials are measured with an inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometer (ICP-AES).

author: Zhao, Fang-Jie, McGrath, Steve P., Zhang, Hao, Sun, Bo, Davison, William
China, Chile, Merseyside, England, Jiangsu, China

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Acid/base, copper binding, and Cu(superscript2+)/H(superscript+) exchange properties of a soil humic acid, an experimental and modeling study

Article Abstract:

Creating a mathematical model for determining the ability of humic acid to absorb copper is the basis of this article. Researchers extracted humic acid from a loam sample, and subjected to various situations to determine binding rates. With the resulting data, data from various mathematical models were compared with the data. However, the model fails to produce data consistent with observed data at low copper levels. Even so, the model does work well for a single ionic strength.

author: Robertson, A.P., Leckie, J.O.
Copper industry, Pollution, Copper, Humic acid, Humic acids, Statistical mechanics

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subjects list: United Kingdom, Statistical Data Included, Research, United States, Soil pollution, Copper products, Environmental aspects
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