Effects of Microbial and Phosphate Amendments on the Bioavailability of Lead (Pb) in Shooting Range Soil
Heavy metals including lead (Pb) are released continually into the environment as a result of industrial, recreational, and military activities. Lead ranked number two on the CERCLA Priority List of Hazardous Substances and was identified as a major hazardous chemical found on 47% of USEPA's National Priorities List sites (Hettiarachchi and Pierzynski 2004). In-situ remediation of lead (Pb) contaminated soils may be accomplished by changing the soil chemistry and structure with the application of microbial and phosphate amendments. Soil contaminated with lead bullets was collected from the surface of the berm at Savannah River Site (SRS) Small Arms Training Academy (SATA) in Aiken, SC. While uncontaminated soils typically have Pb levels ranging from 2 to 200 mg/kg (Berti et al. 1998), previous analysis show Pb levels of the SATA berm to reach 8,673 mg/kg. Biosurfactants are surface-active compounds naturally produced by soil bacteria that can bind metals. Biosurfactants have a wide variety of chemical structures that reduce interfacial surface tensions (Jennings and Tanner 2000) and have demonstrated efficient metal complexion (Lin 1996). Biosurfactants also have the potential to change the availability of natural organic matter (Strong-Gunderson 1995). Two types of bacteria, Alcaligenes piechaudii and Pseudomonas putida, were employed as amendments based on their ability to produce biosurfactants and survive in metal-contaminated soils. Apatites (calcium phosphate compounds) are important in the formation of Pb phosphates. Pb phosphates form rapidly when phosphate is available and are the most stable environmental form of lead in soil (Ruby et al.1998). Pyromorphites in particular remain insoluble under a wide range of environmental conditions (Zhang et al. 1998). The three apatites evaluated in the current study were North Carolina apatite (NCA), Florida apatite (FA), and biological apatite (BA). BA is ground fish bone that has few impurities such as As, Cr, or U and contains about 27% total phosphate, most of which is available. FA and NCA are two types of rock phosphates that release small amounts of phosphate over time. Total phosphate is around 30% with only 1-2% phosphate available (Knox et al. 2005). In this study, we describe the influence of combining the two microbial and three phosphate amendments on reducing lead bioavailability in shooting range soil.
- Research Organization:
- Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC09-96SR18500
- OSTI ID:
- 881457
- Report Number(s):
- WSRC-MS-2005-00391; TRN: US200613%%456
- Journal Information:
- Bulletin of Environmental Contamination & Toxicology, Journal Name: Bulletin of Environmental Contamination & Toxicology
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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