Maria I. Rico

Influence of thermal treatment on sequential extraction and leaching behaviour of trace metals in a contaminated sewage sludge

The losses of weight and organic matter of a sludge caused by thermal treatments at 180 degrees C, 300 degrees C and 400 degrees C were determined in order to assess how the possibilities of sludge use were influenced. The sludge heated at 180 degrees C lost small amounts of weight and organic matter (9.8%) but the losses from the two other treatments were large enough (92.2% and 99.9% in organic matter) to preclude the use of the sludges as organic amendments. The concentration and potential lability and leachability of Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn in the native sludge and in the thermal-treated sludge samples were studied by means of a five-step chemical fractionation method and a column experiment. As a consequence of heating, the trace metals were more strongly fixed in the treated sludges, as could be seen by the decrease with temperature of the ratio between the sum of the first two sequential-extracted fractions and the residual fraction. The leaching results showed that, for the native sludge, the quantities of studied metals leached were larger than for the sludge heated to 180 degrees C. The order of leachability of metals was the same in both cases, and the same equation could be used to calculate the quantities of metals leached. The amounts of metals leached correlated significantly with the first extracted fraction (exchangeable metals) and an equation could be used to calculate the quantities leached, as a function of that fraction.

Manganese and zinc in acidic agricultural soils from Central Spain: distribution and phytoavailability prediction with chemical extraction tests.

The extractability and distribution of manganese (Mn) and zinc (Zn) were evaluated in acidic agricultural soils from Central Spain. Both single (0.1 M hydrochloride [HCl] and 0.05 M ethylenediaminetetraacetate [EDTA]) and sequential extraction procedures (SEP) (modified Tessier procedure and Community Bureau of Reference [BCR] protocol) were applied to 29 representative soils that belong to the Alfisol, Inceptisol, and Entisol orders. Average relative Mn extractabilities with respect to the total content (16.6% for HCl and 31.9% for EDTA) were higher than those of Zn (7.7% for HCl and 6.5% for EDTA). Manganese was mainly released in the oxide-bound phase of both SEP (33.1% for modified Tessier and 48.9% for BCR), whereas Zn was predominantly found in the residual fraction (49.1% for modified Tessier and 31.4% for BCR). Significant correlations were only found between the amounts of extractable Zn and the oxide-bound fraction in both SEP. Few relationships were established between Zn fractions extracted by the BCR procedure and those obtained with the Tessier method. Both metal concentrations in spring barley (Hordeum vulgare L., cv Beka) grown in 11 selected soils and the calculated soil/plant transfer coefficients (soil/plant concentration factor (CF), mean values of 31.2 for Mn and 196 for Zn) were poorly (or not at all) correlated with the different extracted soil fractions (single and sequential). A number of empirical equations have been obtained by regression analyses to predict the Mn and Zn uptake by barley, with soil metal forms and some soil characteristics as components (pH for Mn and organic matter for Zn). Values of R2 in the equations were relatively low (<68%). Single-extraction techniques produced worse results than SEP for the evaluation of Mn phytoavailability. The modified Tessier procedure provided better predictions of Zn uptake by plants than BCR, but not better than those obtained with the HCl extraction method.

Effects of chelated zinc, soluble and coated fertilizers, on soil zinc status and zinc nutrition of maize

Abstract Maize (Zea mays L.) was greenhouse cultivated with doses of 5, 10, and 15 ppm of zinc (Zn) in order to test the effectiveness of laboratory‐prepared coated and uncoated Zn fertilizers with commercial Zn‐EDTA and Zn‐ligno‐sulphonate (LS). Large increases were achieved both in crop yield and in Zn uptake in all cases while a large part of the Zn applied remained in the soil in easily plant‐available forms. Positive significant correlations were obtained between available Zn and the first three sequentially extracted fractions (water soluble plus exchangeable, organically complexed and that associated to amorphous sesquioxides) and also between the variables, yield, Zn concentration, and plant Zn uptake. Zinc uptake by the maize plants can be fairly accurately predicted from its sequential fractioning in the soil using an equation obtained by multiple regression analysis. Consideration of the amounts of Zn remaining as available (DTPA extractable) in the soil and results of a plant analysis let us c...

Leachability and distribution of zinc applied to an acid soil as controlled‐release zinc chelates

Abstract Fertilizers that contain zinc (Zn)‐EDTA and Zn‐lignosulfonate (Zn‐LS), which can also be coated with rosin, were placed at the top of columns of an acid Calcic Palexeralf soil which were periodically irrigated. The liberated Zn remained mostly on the top of the column when the source of Zn was Zn‐LS but Zn migrated through the column when Zn‐EDTA was applied. The use of a coating on the Zn‐EDTA fertilizer diminished the loss of Zn by leaching from 52% to 20% at the end of the experiment at the highest coating percentage (36%). The distribution of the Zn in the soils was studied by fractionation and showed that added Zn remained in the soils in more favorable forms for uptake by plants in comparison with the control soil. The labile fraction (F1) and especially that organically complexed increased, and the percentage corresponding to the residual fraction that was 89% in the native soil diminished in all cases being in the most favorable case by 25%. Correlations between the extracted fractions (r...