Metal speciation in solid wastes — Factors affecting mobility

Abstract

The availability of trace metals for metabolic processes is closely related to their chemical species both in solution and in particulate matter. For the differentiation of the solid metal speciese.g., cation exchangeable forms, carbonate phases, reducible fractions, associations with organic substances and sulfides, and the inert "residual" fractions -chemical extraction sequences have been developed, which can be used for (i) assessment of sources by characterization of typical speciation patterns, (ii) estimation of biological availability of metal pollutants, (iii) differentiation of geochemical environments, (iv) evaluation of diagenetic effects, and (v) estimation on the potential remobilization of metals under changing environmental condition.There is a tendency, that elements introduced with solid waste material are less stably bound than those in natural systems. Even at relative small proportions of these materials, therefore, mobilization (and subsequent transfer to biota) of potentially toxic elements by acidity, complexing agents, or redox changes, may be significantly increased.

Bioaccumulation of Trace Elements in Roach, Silver Bream, Rudd, and Perch Living in an Inundated Opencast Sulphur Mine

“…The content of trace elements in benthic organisms frequently correlates with this phase in sediment (Calmano and Fo¨rstner 1983;Babukutty and Chacko 1995). Strontium can pass easily from the F1, which includes this element adsorbed to exchange sites on the surface of sediment particles, into the water when environmental conditions change (Fo¨rstner 1986).…”

“…A sequential leaching procedure has been successfully applied to describe environmentally mobile (and therefore available to biota) and stable fractions (Calmano and Fo¨rstner 1983;Batley 1990;Hlavay and Polya´k 1998;Weisz et al 2000;Todorovic et al 2001;El Bilali et al 2002). Some environmental conditions (for instance pH, redox, salinity, organic complexes) influence the remobilisation of elements from sediment (Fo¨rstner 1986;Galvez-Cloutier and Dube´1996;Anderson and Pempkowiak 1999;La Force et al 1999;Nowack et al 2001;Cappuyns and Swennen 2004).…”

Genomic alterations recorded in two species of Chironomidae (Diptera) in the Upper Jurassic limestone area of the Ojców National Park in Poland attributable to natural and anthropogenic factors

“…Above this concentration, Zn is often toxic for organisms. Additionally, the results indicate that considerable amounts of the metals that occur in the sediment are potentially mobile and available to biota (Förstner, 1986). Contamination of the sediment by Cd, Pb and Zn was probably caused by atmospheric emissions, human activity in the catchment basin and scientific activity, e.g.…”

Principal component analysis as a tool to indicate the origin of potentially toxic elements in soils

“…Exploitation of PTE speciation is based on the following assumptions (Fö rstner, 1987): (i) pollutant bonding is weaker in polluted materials than in lithogenic ones; (ii) interaction between solution and solid phase in polluted systems tends to form more labile associations than in natural systems; and (iii) pollutants are more readily mobilized in polluted systems because their bonds with soil particles are weaker. The proportion of mobile or mobilizable PTE forms should distinguish between anthropogenic pollution and natural enrichment (Podlešáková et al, 2001;Vácha et al, 2002).…”