The Applicability of the Acid Mine Drainage Sludge in the Heavy Metal Stabilization in Soils

BACKGROUND:Recent studies using various industrial wastes for heavy metal stabilization in soil were conducted in order to find out new alternative amendments.The acid mine drainage sludge(AMDS) contains lots of metal oxides(hydroxides) that may be useful for heavy metal stabilization not only waste water treatment but also soil remediation.The aim of this study was to investigate the applicability of acid mine drainage sludge for heavy metals stabilization in soils METHODS AND RESULTS: Alkali soil contaminated with heavy metals was collected from the agricultural soils affected by the abandoned mine sites nearby.Three different amounts(1%, 3%, 5%) of AMDS were applied into control soil and contaminated soil.For determining the changes in the extractable heavy metals, CaCl 2 and Mehlich-3 were applied as chemical assessments for metal stabilization.For biological assessments, lettuce(Lactuca sativa L.) and chinese cabbage(Brassica rapa var.glabra) were cultivated and accumulation of heavy metals on each plant were determined.It was revealed that AMDS reduced heavy metal mobility and bioavailability in soil, which resulted in the decreases in the accumulation of As, Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn in each plant.CONCLUSION: Though the high level of heavy metal concentrations in AMDS, any considerable increase in the heavy metal availability was not observed with control and contaminated soil.In conclusion, these results indicated that AMDS could be applied to heavy metal contaminated soil as an alternative amendments for reducing heavy metal mobility and bioavailability.