Ecological evaluation of artificial soils treated with phosphogypsum

Abstract

An attempt to set up ecologically acceptable concentrations of toxic components contained in phosphogypsum was made for soils of different land uses. For this purpose, an experimental ecological evaluation of a standard soil mixture (model artificial soil ISO 11268-1) treated with phosphogypsum was performed. Both positive and negative effects of the phosphogypsum components were found. Thus, a significant increase in the biomass of lawn grasses was observed in the model soil with the phosphogypsum content of less than 3.3%. In the soil containing more than 6.8% phosphogypsum, the concentrations of Sr and F exceeded the maximum permissible values and adversely affected the living organisms. According to the basic ecological norms, the allowable content of phosphogypsum should be ≤2.0% for the soils of specially protected natural areas; ≤6.8% for agricultural and urban soils; and ≤9.6% for the soils of forest, water management, and transport lands.