Flowing-water remediation simulation experiments of lead-contaminated soil using UCB technology

Int J Phytoremediation. 2024 Dec 22:1-10. doi: 10.1080/15226514.2024.2443071. Online ahead of print.

Abstract

The flowing-water remediation of contaminated soil was investigated. Urease combined with biochar (UCB) technology was used to handle the Pb2+-contaminated sand column. The results showed that with the continuous increase of pore volume, the concentration of Pb2+ in the leachate undergoes three stages: slow growth, rapid growth, and steady state. With increasing seepage velocity, the concentration of Pb2+ in leachate increased slightly. The residual amount of each section of the sand column gradually decreased with increasing migration distance. The comparative results indicated that the UCB technology had a good solidification effect on Pb2+. This was due to urease-induced CaCO3 precipitation, cementation, and adsorption of Pb2+. Biochar provided more nucleation sites for urease, and some Pb2+ was adsorbed on its surface or diffused into the pores of biochar, or ions exchanged with functional groups on the surface of biochar, which effectively stabilized the free Pb2+.

Keywords: Biochar; UCB technology; dynamic adsorption; remediation; urease.

Plain language summary

Flowing-water remediation experiments of urease combined with biochar on Pb2+ was completed.Remediation steps of Pb2+-contaminated soil using UCB were proposed.Solidification principle of UCB was revealed by direct sampling detection.