Article

An application of a phytoremediation technology in Bulgaria—The Kremikovtzi Steel Works experiment

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Abstract

The first in-field phytoremediation trial in Bulgaria was initiated in the summer of 1998 at two highly polluted heavy-metal sites within the industrial region of Kremikovtzi Steel Works, near the capital town of Sofia. The experiment targeted phytoextraction of lead, according to the selection of Brassica juncea seed material and technology, generously provided by Phytotech, Inc. The metal concentrations in soil samples were measured before planting and after harvest. Leaf and stem plant samples were investigated by laser mass spectrometry in search of metal accumulation depots. The results of the one-planting experiment show a very uneven decrease between 0 and 25.9 percent of the initial lead concentration at various sample locations. The trial, which was initially planned for three consecutive years, was unfortunately terminated in the second year because the Steel Works entered a privatization procedure. Nevertheless, the experimental data obtained confirmed the general applicability of phytoremediation to treat soil polluted with heavy metals. The experiment was further successful, because it confirmed the proposal to clean the three-kilometer ecological zone around the Steel Works with two plantings per year in two years to levels below the maximum permissible level for lead of 25 to 80 g/t for pH 4, according to the Bulgarian Environmental Standards. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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... Plant screening experiments have shown that some plant species, such as Lolium multiflorum Lam. and Festuca arundinacea Schreb are tolerant of hydrocarbon contamination (Frick et al., 1999). B. juncea L. is a useful plant species for phytoremediation and has been successfully used to remediate a 3 km Bulgarian ecological zone contaminated with Pb (Simeonova and Simeonov, 2006). Pb can be one of the impurities in crude oil. ...
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The review investigates phytoremediation as an alternative environmentally-friendly method of cleaning and restoring hydrocarbon contaminated soils. Phytoremediation is a 'green' technology that exploits the natural ability of green plants to remove, degrade or suppress contaminants in soils, sludges, sediments, surface-water and groundwater in an ecologically-friendly manner. Its processes are stimulated by sunlight and microbial biota in the contaminated medium. The use of various mechanisms of phytoremediation is reviewed along with the criteria used in the selection of plant species for phytoremediation exercises. The importance of soil amendments in phytoremediation experiments is also considered. The usefulness of phytoremediation as a viable tool for the remediation of contaminated soils in the crude oil bearing regions of the world, and particularly in Nigeria, have been assessed through the work of previous authors to verify its suitability for the remediation and restoration of contaminated soils.
... Xia (2003) also points out that when compared to shrubs and trees, grasses exhibit rapid growth, large biomass, strong resistance and effective stabilization of soil, making them prime candidates for restoration of degraded and mined lands. Simeonova and Simeonov (2006) used Indian mustard (Brassica juncea) to remediate land contaminated by mixed metals at an industrial site in Bulgaria. The soil here contained lead at a concentration of 125 -812 mg kg -1 . ...
... Unfortunately, commercially available energy plant species, have rather limited application to post-industrial areas due to their low resistance to the pollution. Soil cleaning technologies are generally cost consuming and unaffordable for developing countries (Cunningham and Berti, 2000; Laperche, 2001; SasNowosielska et al., 2008b; Kucharski et al., 2008; Simeonov et al., 1999; Simeonova and Simeonov, 2006; Simeonova and Simeonov, 2006a). The soil techniques allowing chemical stabilization of pollutants, could be very practical, considering their technical simplicity and low cost input. ...
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EU strategy of renewable energy development assumes an increase of energy from renewable sources, up to 7.5% in 2010 and to 14% in 2020. In terms of that project production and usage of woody and herbaceous energy crops for power and heat generation on contaminated sites is said to be a pro20 position for wide spectrum of brownfields. Persistent soil pollutants, like heavy metals, are source of soil degradation and create the most complicated problems, as the phenomenon of natural attenuation, which is functioning in case of many other pollutants, is not applicable here. For environmental friendly combustion process (Nussbaumer, 2003) plants used as energy crop, should be free from harmful compounds. There is a luck of easily available information related to the physiological properties of plants concerning heavy metals uptake. Heavy metal concentration in plants is related to the plant species and cultivars. Possibilities of using the list of plants with the low level of heavy metal shoot concentration should help to grow environmentally safe energetic crop. For production of biomass with low level of heavy metals different chemo31 stabilization scenarios for various areas are expected. First contaminated soils should be remediated before energy crop production. Chemicals introduced to the soil bind metals and diminish metal uptake by plants. Appropriate soil pH also could stabilize metal migration in the soil compartment. KeywordsEnergy crops-heavy metals-contaminated soil-phytostabilization
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It is presented the possibility to reduce contents of heavy metals (cadmium, zinc) in a sludge proceeded from the wastewater treatment plant of Iaşi Municipality. The sludge was deposited, for over 10 years, in a mud pond with a surface about 15 ha, placed on a calcareous and salinised alluvial soil. For this purpose, it is proposed using the spontaneous flora, which has been settled in a period of four years after closure of the deposit. The flora has been predominantly composed of Phragmytes australis, and also other species such as Rumex acetosela, Chenopodium album, Aster panonicum, Solanum nigrum and others. These plants accumulated in their roots and in the aerial part cadmium (Cd) quantities, which exceed up to 60, respectively 14 times the normal values. Similarly, zinc (Zn) has been concentrated in the roots and aerial parts 33 times, 18 times respectively. The transfer (TF) and bioaccumulation (BAF) factors’ values highlight the plants’ feature to accumulate heavy metals from the sludge. The plants can be arranged in a decreasing series of the accumulated heavy metals (cadmium, copper, lead, zinc), thus Rumex acetosela, Solanum nigrum, Chenopodium album, Aster panonicum and Phragmytes australis. Applying phytoextraction of polluting heavy metals only by annual harvesting of aerial part of the spontaneous flora now existing, will bring the sewage sludge to a normal content level of these heavy metals in a period of up to 450 years. If the harvest will include also the roots, the time necessary to decontaminate the sludge could be reduced with 50-60 %. In addition, the change of floristic composition so that Rumex and Solanum genus are becoming dominant, could lead to a significant reducing of phytoremediation period.
Chapter
The starting point of this paper is the need of knowledge on the influence of different (wastes) deposits on the soil quality. A general presentation of the accumulation and (bio)transformation of pollutants in soils, with emphasis on heavy metals behaviour will be given. A case study on heavy metals presence in a wastewater sludge deposit and their migration in the surrounding soil will be presented.
Chapter
In environmental studies heavy metals as well as some metalloids, such as arsenic, are considered as priority pollutants. The development and use of extraction schemes aims the evaluation of the metal fractions available to plants and the evaluation of the mobility of element under changing environmental parameters. The extracting agents are not selective and the “extractable metal” is defined under operational conditions. The lack of harmonized procedures did not allow the results to be compared worldwide. The first part of the current chapter deals on the studies carried out within the Standards Measurements and Testing Program (formerly BCR) of the European Union and the proposals of extraction systems for both soils and sediments, as well as the production of soils Certified Reference Materials for extractable metals, in such Programs our research group participated actively. A second strategy is based on analytical speciation. Such approach permits the extraction, separation and quantification of the chemical species present in the soil. The knowledge of the chemical species is a valuable tool for further studies on metal transport and on their translocation in plants. The main goal of that strategy is to achieve the separation and quantification of the chemical species of the element of interest with the highest possible selectivity and sensitivity while maintaining its integrity. The second part of the present chapter deals mainly on the studies carried out in our group on arsenic speciation in soils by emphasizing on some critical analytical aspects such as the stability of the species during the analysis as well as their recovery. Some of our recent studies on selenium speciation in soils and some new results on the most recent studies on antimony speciation are also reported. Keywordsanalytical protocols-analytical speciations-heavy metals-inorganic pollutants-priority pollutants-risk assessment-contaminated soil
Chapter
The countries of the former Eastern European Block continue to suffer from environmental contamination resulting from former economic practices, where environmental issues were not given a priority. Considerable environmental progress has already been made over the past decade, especially concerning air quality. Nevertheless, persistent pollutants in soils, particularly heavy metals still remain deposited. Current remedial technologies for soils contaminated with heavy metals involve ex situ physical and chemical methods such as, solidification, electrokinetics, soil washing, pyrometallurgical separation, excavation etc. are generally very costly and unaffordable to developing countries. For such sites introduction of different kinds of phytoremediation technologies seems to be an acceptable solution. Keywordsphytoextraction-phytostabilization-metal uptake-lead-cadmium-zinc
Chapter
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The total concentration of toxic chemical elements present in contaminated soils and mine wastes does not provide reliable information about the risk they present to Man and the Environment. Realistic assessments imply determining the fraction of total pollutant load susceptible to be solubilized and thus potentially transferred to the hydrocycle and the biosphere. Chemical extraction is the most commonly used method to reach this objective. Here we investigate two of the classical methods of sequential extraction, the first developed for cationic metallic elements (Tessier et al., 1979), the second for the oxyanionic phosphorus, a chemical analogue of arsenic (Woolson et al., 1983) and we propose a single protocol capable of simultaneous giving useful information about the reactivity of both cationic and anionic pollutants (often present together in contamination due to mining and smelting activities or heavy chemical industry). If the method of Tessier et al. (1979) is used for arsenic, it underestimates its potential mobility. The method we propose does not provide direct clues about the geochemical associations of the toxic elements in the contaminated solids but it gives instead information about (a) the potentially mobile fraction of these elements and (b) their geochemical behavior in the presence of a large range of physical-chemical conditions (acidic, alkaline, oxidizing, reducing), data of interest for remediation measures. Keywordsarsenic-chemical extraction-contaminated soils-metals-mine waste-potential-mobility
Richtwerte' 80. Orientierungsdaten fuer tolerierbare Gesamtgahalte einiger
  • A Klocke
Leidraad bodemsanering
  • J. W. Van Lindth de Jeude
Possibilities for application of ecology-clean technologies for decontamination of soils, polluted with heavy metals [in Bulgarian]
  • V. Ilieva
  • B. Simeonova
  • L. Simeonov
Perspectives of phytoremediation of agricultural lands polluted with heavy metals in the Kremikovtzi region Bulgaria
  • L I Simeonov
Application aspects of phytoremediation in agriculture
  • L I Simeonov
Possibilities for application of ecology‐clean technologies for decontamination of soils, polluted with heavy metals [in Bulgarian]
  • Ilieva V.
List of contaminated agricultural land from industrial activity
  • Ministry of Environment
Maximum permissible levels of toxic substances in soil
  • Ministry of Environment