Abstract
Lead (Pb) contamination in soils of residential properties due to peeling and chipping of Pb-based paint can cause human health problems. Phytoextraction is a green technology that has the potential to remediate soil Pb. The efficiency of phytoextraction is dependent on the geochemical forms of Pb in soil. A biodegradable chelating agent, ethylenediaminedisuccinic acid (EDDS), was previously shown to enhance Pb removal by facilitating phytoextraction. In this study, EDDS was tested at various concentrations for its potential in mobilizing Pb in urban residential soils in Jersey City, New Jersey, and San Antonio, Texas. Results show that the concentrations of plant-available forms of Pb increased with the increasing dosage of EDDS from 2 to 30 mmol/L. The addition of EDDS at 30 mmol/L resulted in the conversion of up to 61.2% and 68.9% of the total Pb to plant-available forms in Jersey City and San Antonio soils, respectively. Further analysis showed that, after EDDS application, carbonate-bound Pb, oxide-bound Pb, organic-bound Pb, and residual silicate-bound Pb were transformed to plant-available forms. Higher doses of EDDS performed better than lower doses in transforming soil Pb forms, especially for the oxide-bound Pb. Strong correlations between Pb concentrations measured on-site using a portable X-ray Fluorescence Analyzer (p-XRF) and those obtained in the laboratory using Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES) confirmed that p-XRF is a reliable rapid, convenient technology to measure Pb levels in situ.
Highlights
Lead (Pb) contamination in soil and water in urban areas is of serious concern, due to its severe impact on human health, especially in children
The pH and electrical conductivity (EC) of soil samples were assayed using standard protocols described in Sparks et al (2020), and the organic matter content in samples was determined using the loss on ignition (LOI) method described in Schulte and Hopkins (1996)
The Jersey City soils were slightly acidic with pH values ranging from 5.32 to 6.14, while the San Antonio soils were slightly alkaline with pH values ranging from 7.48 to 7.74
Summary
Lead (Pb) contamination in soil and water in urban areas is of serious concern, due to its severe impact on human health, especially in children. Studies show that high blood lead levels (BLLs) in children lead to physiological and neurological disorders, and the BLLs are closely related to soil Pb contamination in inner-city areas (Mielke et al, 1983; Elhelu et al, 1995). Elevated BLLs can be correlated with Pb levels in yard soils in residential properties (Mielke et al, 1997; Johnson and Bretsch, 2002; Li et al, 2012; Zahran et al, 2013; Laidlaw et al, 2017). Soil Pb contamination in residential properties is attributed mainly to the usage of Pb-based paint (McClintock, 2012). Before Pb-based paints were banned by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission in 1978, Pb minerals were added to paints to improve their durability
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