Remediation of a sandy soil artificially contaminated with copper using a polyacrylate polymer

We investigated whether a Na‐K polyacrylate polymer could be used to remediate a sandy soil artificially contaminated with copper. An experiment, carried out in solution culture, showed that ionic copper was rapidly trapped within the polymer to a maximum content of c. 190mg Cu g ‐1 dry polymer, the proportion needed for chelation of each copper ion by four carboxylic groups present in the polymer chains. Cu‐EDTA was not retained by the polymer. Growth of perennial rygrass in 10 kg pots was stimulated in the gel‐amended soil, and even in the pots with the highest levels of copper, growth was much less impaired than in pots without polymer. Copper concentrations of the shoot.; were smaller in the plants cultivated in the amended soil. Water extractable copper was considerably reduced in the contaminated gel‐amended soil and polymer particles removed from the soil were shown to contain high levels of copper.