Immobilization of Cd and Pb in soil facilitated by magnetic biochar: metal speciation and microbial community evolution.

Abstract

The preparation of magnetic biochar from sewage sludge and rice straw for heavy metal contaminated soil remediation has greater application prospects, but its remediation mechanism was rarely considered by combining soil physicochemical properties with microbial community. In this study, the effects of magnetic sewage sludge biochar (SSB) and rice straw biochar (RSB) on Cd and Pb immobilization in paddy soil were compared and analyzed by 60-day soil incubation experiments. The results illustrated that DTPA-Cd and DTPA-Pb were reduced by 51.53% (43.07%) and 53.57% (50.47%), while the percentage of residual fraction of the BCR procedure was enhanced by 31.27% (30.78%) of Cd and 27.25% (23.22%) of Pb in the SSB (RSB) treatment, respectively. Fe was detected on both SSB and RSB surfaces, but SSB had rougher and a larger specific surface area compared to RSB. The addition of SSB and RSB in paddy soil increased soil pH and TOC content, and affected the diversity and species of soil microbial community. Compared with the CK group, the relative abundance of Proteobacteria, Bacteroidota, and Lysobacter decreased, and the relative abundance of Actinobacteriota, Pontibacter, and Alkaliphilus increased with SSB and RSB treatments, all of which reflected the bioavailability of Cd and Pb reduction.