Surfactant-facilitated remediation of metal-contaminated soils: Efficacy and toxicological consequences to earthworms

The effectiveness of surfactant formulations to remove aged metals from a field soil and their influence on soil toxicity was investigated. Batch studies were conducted to evaluate the efficacy of cationic (1-dodecylpyridinium chloride; DPC), nonionic (oleyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride; trade name Ammonyx KP), and anionic (rhamnolipid biosurfactant blend; trade name JBR-425) surfactants for extracting Zn, Cu, Pb, and Cd from a soil subjected to more than 80 years of metal deposition. All three surfactants enhanced removal of the target metals. The anionic biosurfactant JBR-425 was most effective, reducing Zn, Cu, Pb, and Cd in the soil by 39, 56, 68, and 43%, respectively, compared with less than 6% removal by water alone. Progressive acidification of the surfactants with citric acid buffer or addition of ethylenediaminetetra-acetic acid (EDTA) further improved extraction efficiency, with more than 95% extraction of all four metals by surfactants acidified to pH 3.6 and generally greater than 90% removal of all metals with addition of 0.1 M EDTA. In two species of earthworm, Eisenia fetida and Lumbricus terrestris, metal bioaccumulation was reduced by approximately 30 to 80%, total biomass was enhanced by approximately threefold to sixfold, and survival was increased to greater than 75% in surfactant-remediated soil compared with untreated soil. The data indicate that surfactant washing may be a feasible approach to treat surface soils contaminated with a variety of metals, even if those metals have been present for nearly a century, and that the toxicity and potential for metal accumulation in biota from the treated soils may be significantly reduced.