Cerium-manganese Modified Biochar Immobilizes Arsenic in Farmland Soils

Abstract

Loaded cerium and manganese modified biochar (MBC) was prepared by high temperature pyrolysis at 600℃, and three kinds of arsenic (As) contaminated soils were selected for remediation, including red soil, yellow soil, and purple soil with different basic properties. During the soil incubation experiment, the goal of this research was to investigate the influence of MBC as a stabilizer of the mobility of arsenic in these three soils after treated by biochar (BC) and MBC. The results revealed that the application of MBC resulted in a significant decrease of water soluble arsenic content in the three different kinds of soils. With the additional amount increasing, the stabilization efficiency of soil arsenic increased continuously. When the applied amount of MBC ranged from 1% to 10%, the stabilization efficiency of arsenic was in the range of 70%-99%. The corresponding stabilizing efficiencies of the red, yellow, and purple soils were 70.59%-94.72%, 75.24%-98.35%, and 76.53%-99.61%, respectively, after being treated by MBC at 1%-10%. At a higher addition of 10% MBC, the efficiency of stabilization reached 95%. On the contrary, the addition of unmodified biochar caused the activation and dissipation of As in soils. Comparatively speaking, according to the stabilization efficiency, the three soils ranked in this decreasing order:purple soil > yellow soil > red soil. It also illustrated that the addition of MBC into soils led to the conversion of active arsenic to stable ones in soil, indicating the conversion from non-specifically sorbed (F1) and specifically sorbed (F2) to well-crystallized hydrous oxides of Fe and Al (F4) and residual phases (F5), which reduced the mobility of arsenic in these soils. According to the analysis of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction analysis, the immobilization of arsenic by MBC was strongly related to the successful loading of cerium-manganese oxide onto biochar. Therefore, MBC can be used to make suitable amendments to immobilize As in soils for remediation of arsenic-contaminated farmland soils.