Roles of nanoparticles in arsenic mobility and microbial community composition in arsenic-enriched soils

Abstract

Environmental effects of nano remediation engineering of arsenic (As) pollution need to be considered. In this study, the roles of Fe2O3 and TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) on the microbial mediated As mobilization from As contaminated soil were investigated. The addition of Fe2O3 and TiO2 NPs restrained As(V) release, and stimulated As(III) release. As(V) concentration decreased by 94% and 93% after Fe2O3 addition, and decreased by 89% and 45% after TiO2 addition compared to the Biotic and Biotic+Acetate (amended with sodium acetate) controls, respectively. The maximum values of As(III) were 20.5 and 27.1 µg/L at 48 d after Fe2O3 and TiO2 NPs addition, respectively, and were higher than that in Biotic+Acetate control (12.9 µg/L). The released As co-precipitated with Fe in soils in the presence of Fe2O3 NPs, but adsorbed on TiO2 NPs in the presence of TiO2 NPs. Moreover, the addition of NPs amended with sodium acetate as the electron donor clearly promoted As(V) reduction induced by microbes. The NPs addition changed the relative abundance of soil bacterial community, while Proteobacteria (42.8%-70.4%), Planctomycetes (2.6%-14.3%), and Firmicutes (3.5%-25.4%) were the dominant microorganisms in soils. Several potential As/Fe reducing bacteria were related to Pseudomonas, Geobacter, Desulfuromonas, and Thiobacillus. The addition of Fe2O3 and TiO2 NPs induced to the decrease of arrA gene. The results indicated that the addition of NPs had a negative impact on soil microbial population in a long term. The findings offer a relatively comprehensive assessment of Fe2O3 and TiO2 NPs effects on As mobilization and soil bacterial communities.