Evaluation of the biochar effect on co-contaminated soils by the fitotesting method

Abstract

In the conditions of the adjacent location of agricultural land with industrial land, there is a continuous soil contamination of the territories adjacent to the emission sources. There is a threat of hazardous ecotoxicants migration, including heavy metals and benzo[a]pyrene, one of the main persistent compound, the marker of soil PAHs pollution, along trophic chains, which can be dangerous for a public health. In this study, the technology of biochar manufacturing from sunflower husks tested for improving the territories adjacent to technogenic emissions sources of heavy metals and PAHs. Using scanning electron microscopy showed that the resulting sorbent has a high specific surface area. With the help of phyto-testing, the optimal dose of the sorbent introduction into the combined contaminated soil was determined in the level of the 1% and 2%. The use of a sorbent in an amount of 1% significantly increased the root length of the test culture by 3.5 times as compared to the variant without adding the sorbent. The biochar applying into the contaminated soil contributed to an increase in the length of the barley root that confirms the effectively of the developed sorbent remediation of the co-contaminated soils.