Enhancing Lead Passivation in Contaminated Soil: Impacts of the Chemical Modification of Oxygen-Containing Groups (OCGs) on the Surface of Hydrochar

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this study, we selected walnut shell-derived pristine HC (pHC) and two modified derivatives obtained by oxidative and alkali treatments (designated mHC-O and mHC-A, respectively) to investigate the passivation performance of Pb(II) in contaminated soil. The yields of mHC-A and mHC-O were 70.58% and 95.38%, respectively, after posttreatment. According to the XPS, FTIR, and acidity titration results, the amounts of the three major OCGs (i.e. C−O, C=O, and O−C=O) all increased after H2O2 oxidation. Moreover, chemical modification fundamentally changed the structural characteristics of pHC. DTPA extraction tests indicated that the extractable Pb content after 30 days of incubation decreased by 13.60%, 19.32% and 14.53% at 7% (w/w) doses of HC, mHC-O and mHC-A, respectively, compared to that of the control. Furthermore, mHC-O was superior to pHC and mHC-A in terms of Pb passivation efficiency, which was consistent with the results of BCR sequential extraction and leaching tests using three root exudates. For mHC-O at the 7% dose, the contents of bioavailable Pb in the contaminated soil were 19.85 and 8.83 mg/kg based on DTPA leaching and BCR analysis, respectively, while they were 0.616, 0.564 and 0.07 mg/kg in the root exudate leaching tests of Ophiopogon japonicus, radish and spinach, respectively, indicating that the root exudate leaching method lowered the bioavailable Pb content compared to the DTPA and BCR methods. Overall, Oxidation posttreatment with HC could improve the passivation of Pb in contaminated soils.