Leaching of heavy metals and nutrients from calcareous sandy‐loam soil receiving municipal solid sewage sludge

Abstract

Leaching column experiments were conducted to determine the degree of mobility of heavy metals (HMs) and nutrients after the addition of municipal solid sewage sludge (MSS) in a sandy-loam soil. Treatments were (1) soil application of low metal content MSS, (2) soil application of metal-enriched municipal solid sewage sludge (EMSS), and (3) control. The MSS application represented a dose of 200 Mg dry weight (dw) ha -1 . Soil columns were incubated at room temperature for 15 d and were irrigated daily with distilled water to make a total of 557 mm. Leachates were collected and analyzed for HMs and nutrients. The Ni and Pb added to soil via MSS and EMSS were found to be leached through the 20 cm columns of calcareous sandy soil although Ni and Pb concentrations in the percolate were small relative to the total amounts of metals applied. Losses of K + from the EMSS, MSS, and control were 92.5, 82.0, and 52.5 kg ha -1 , respectively. Losses of Mg 2+ were in the range from 104.4 (control treatment) to 295.2 kg ha -1 (EMSS), while the loss of Ca 2+ was in the range from 265.0 (control treatment) to 568.2 kg ha -1 (EMSS). The results showed that the amounts of P leached from EMSS (3.02 kg ha -1 ) and MSS (2.97 kg -1 ha -1 ) were significantly larger than those from the control treatment (1.54 kg ha -1 ). The geochemical code Visual MINTEQ was used to calculate saturation indices. Leaching of P in different treatments was controlled by rate-limited dissolution of hydroxyapatite, b-tri-Ca phosphate, and octa-Ca phosphate. The results indicate that application of MSS to a sandy soil, at the loading rate used in this study, may pose a risk in terms of groundwater contamination with Ni, Pb, and the studied nutrients.

Relation between various soil phosphorus extraction methods and sorption parameters in calcareous soils with different texture

“…It became a common practice to add municipal sewage sludge (MSS) (Smith, 1996;Islas-Espinoza et al, 2014), biosolids (Shu et al, 2016) and manure to soils in many countries around the world to supply P, nitrogen and other macro-and micro-nutrients. In many parts of Iran MSS (Raiesi et al, 2015;Rezapour et al, 2012;Jalali and Arfania, 2010) and manures (Jalali and Ostovarzadeh, 2009) is used to supply plants with P and other nutrients. Raiesi et al (2015) indicated that application of MSS to the calcareous soils increased both organic and calcium phosphate fractions.…”

Distribution and fractionation of cadmium, copper, lead, nickel, and zinc in a calcareous sandy soil receiving municipal solid waste

“…General concerns have been raised about increasing deterioration of natural waters by liquid MSS application, but little study has been conducted to investigate the fate of heavy metals and their speciation when incorporated with solid sewage sludge in calcareous soil. Previous soil leaching experiments showed that Ni and Pb losses in the percolate were low relative to total amounts of metal applied (Jalali and Arfania 2010). Thus, the aim of the present study was to investigate the distribution of Cd, Cu, Pb, Ni, and Zn in the soil column and change of heavy metals in different fractions in a calcareous sandy soil receiving MSS.…”

Effect of wastewater and compost on leaching nutrients of soil column under basil cultivation

“…In comparison to clean groundwater-irrigated soil and soil without any compost, wastewater-irrigated soil and soil containing compost or sewage sludge have some advantages such as: (i) more organic carbon, (ii) more available nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, (iii) more crop production, (iv) better soil physical, chemical and biological properties, (v) more available water content and (vi) less erosion (Siebe, 1998;Tejada et al, 2001;Zheljazkov and Warman, 2004;Wei and Liu, 2005;Tabari and Salehi, 2009;Baldantoni et al, 2010;Jalali and Arfania, 2010;Mojiri, 2010;Singh and Agrawal, 2012).…”

“…However, phosphorus leaching can occur in sandy soils (Guertal et al, 1991) and other types of soils with high P, due to continuous P application (Heckrath et al, 1995). Jalali and Arfania (2010) investigated the effect of sewage sludge on leaching nutrients from a calcareous sandy-loam soil. They found that the amounts of P (2.97 kg ha −1 ) leached from column which received sewage sludge was significantly larger than that from control treatment (1.54 kg ha −1 ).…”