IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2023i1p183-d1306795.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Biochar-Assisted Phytoremediation Potential of Sewage Sludge Contaminated Soil

Author

Listed:
  • Olga Anne

    (Engineering Department, Marine Technology and Natural Sciences Faculty, Klaipeda University, 92295 Klaipeda, Lithuania)

  • Ieva Mockevičienė

    (Institute of Agriculture, Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry, 58344 Kėdainiai, Lithuania)

  • Danutė Karčauskienė

    (Institute of Agriculture, Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry, 58344 Kėdainiai, Lithuania)

  • Regina Repšienė

    (Institute of Agriculture, Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry, 58344 Kėdainiai, Lithuania)

  • Gintaras Šiaudinis

    (Institute of Agriculture, Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry, 58344 Kėdainiai, Lithuania)

  • Karolina Barčauskaitė

    (Institute of Agriculture, Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry, 58344 Kėdainiai, Lithuania)

  • Greta Žilė

    (Engineering Department, Marine Technology and Natural Sciences Faculty, Klaipeda University, 92295 Klaipeda, Lithuania)

Abstract

Environmental pollution caused by increasing levels of heavy metals (HM) is a pressing problem throughout the world. Phytoremediation is considered a prospective remediation approach for HM-contaminated soil, but more research is required to enhance remediation efficiency. Biochar is a promising bio-residue material that can be used for the sustainable remediation of heavy metal-contaminated soil. In this study, a pot experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of biochar from different bio-substrates (digestate, waste of biodiesel production from rapeseed, corn stalk) on HM (Cr, Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn) accumulation in buckwheat and white mustard cultivated in sewage sludge-contaminated soil. The total amount of HM in soil, plant above- and below-ground biomass, leachate, and bioconcentration and translocation factors were studied to explore the mechanism of how the different bio-substrates’ biochar affects HM accumulation in selected plants. It was observed that rapeseed biochar showed the greatest significant effect in reducing the HM content in soil, plant biomass, and lysimetric water. Meanwhile, the incorporation of digestate biochar significantly increased the HM content in all the soil-plant systems and affected the HM leaching from the soil. The concentration of HM in the leachate decreased from 2.5 to 10 times. It was determined that phytostabilization is the core process of HM accumulation in buckwheat, in contrast to mustard, where the mechanism is phytoextraction. This study confirmed that biochar addition enhances the phytoremediation efficiency in soil, which can potentially improve the development of ecofriendly in-situ bioremediation technology for HM-contaminated sites.

Suggested Citation

  • Olga Anne & Ieva Mockevičienė & Danutė Karčauskienė & Regina Repšienė & Gintaras Šiaudinis & Karolina Barčauskaitė & Greta Žilė, 2023. "Biochar-Assisted Phytoremediation Potential of Sewage Sludge Contaminated Soil," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-16, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2023:i:1:p:183-:d:1306795
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/1/183/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/1/183/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Karolina Barčauskaitė & Olga Anne & Ieva Mockevičienė & Regina Repšienė & Gintaras Šiaudinis & Danutė Karčauskienė, 2023. "Determination of Heavy Metals Immobilization by Chemical Fractions in Contaminated Soil Amended with Biochar," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-15, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.

      Corrections

      All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2023:i:1:p:183-:d:1306795. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

      If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

      If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

      If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

      For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

      Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

      IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.