Study on the passivation of lead in soil by phosphate-modified red mud biochar and its plant availability
摘要
In this study, to remediate the soils contaminated with lead, lotus leaf powder, and red mud, a solid waste generated from the Bayer process, went through a carbonization process at high temperatures and then modified with KH₂PO₄ to fabricate a new composite material. First, various characterization techniques such as scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller, Zeta potential, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were used to investigate the synthesis conditions, chemical composition, specific surface area, types of electric charges, and passivation mechanisms of the prepared materials. The soil passivation test was performed to evaluate the Pb passivation ability of both the composite materials and their monomers. The phosphate-modified red mud-lotus leaf biochar significantly increased the proportion of the residual fraction of Pb in the soil from 5 to 77% by its passivation. The results of soil column leaching and pot experiments demonstrated the effective immobilization of total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and total potassium in the soil by the prepared composite material, while facilitating their slow release, thus increasing the prolonged cultivability of soil. Moreover, the composite material also exhibited a high phytoremediation ability for soils with high lead pollution. In conclusion, both the phosphate-modified red mud-lotus leaf biochar and red mud-lotus leaf biochar showed great potential as safe and effective passivating agents for Pb-contaminated soils, thus achieving solid waste recycling.