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U.S. Department of Energy
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Sequential extraction evaluation of heavy-metal-contaminated soil: How clean is clean?

Conference ·
OSTI ID:105067
As a result of industrial and military operations, large amounts of land have become contaminated with heavy metals. A growing public awareness of metal toxicity in soils and water has forced increased treatment and improved remediation techniques. To develop an adequate knowledge base to definitively judge the usefulness of the remediation technology requires some basic research in how the contaminants are bound in the soil. In this study, the classic five-step sequential extractions were performed on heavy-metal-contaminated soil from Aberdeen Proving Ground to determine the speciation of the metal forms. This technique speciates the heavy metal distribution into an easily extractable (exchangeable) form, carbonates, reducible oxides, organically-bound forms, and residual forms. In order to compare the results of these fractionations with the amount of heavy metals extracted by chelating agents, multi-stage extractions with EDTA were also performed. The results were used to determine the feasibility of using soil washing and soil flushing techniques for remediating the Aberdeen metals-contaminated soils.
Research Organization:
Argonne National Lab., IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
Department of Defense, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
W-31109-ENG-38
OSTI ID:
105067
Report Number(s):
ANL/ES/CP--85526; CONF-950646--25; ON: DE95013716
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English