Remediation of heavy metal contaminated soil by asymmetrical alternating current electrochemistry.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 31164649.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-019-10472-x and PMC identifier 6547649.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Soil contamination by heavy metals constitutes an important environmental problem, whereas field applicability of existing remediation technologies has encountered numerous obstacles, such as long operation time, high chemical cost, large energy consumption, secondary pollution, and soil degradation. Here we report the design and demonstration of a remediation method based on a concept of asymmetrical alternating current electrochemistry that achieves high degrees of contaminant removal for different heavy metals (copper, lead, cadmium) at different initial concentrations (from 100 to 10,000 ppm), all reaching corresponding regulation levels for residential scenario after rational treatment time (from 30 min to 6 h). No excessive nutrient loss in treated soil is observed and no secondary toxic product is produced. Long-term experiment and plant assay show the high sustainability of the method and its feasibility for agricultural use.
Medical subject headings
- Electrochemistry
- Environmental Restoration and Remediation
- Metals, Heavy
- Soil
- Soil Pollutants