Causes and Effects of Heavy Metal Pollution

407 Pages·2008·9.27 MB·English

by  Mikel L. Sanchez

C E H
AUSES AND FFECTS OF EAVY
METAL POLLUTION

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C E H
AUSES AND FFECTS OF EAVY
METAL POLLUTION

MIKEL L. SÁNCHEZ
EDITOR

Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
New York
Copyright © 2008 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Causes and effects of heavy metal pollution / Mikel L. Sánchez (editor).
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-60876-255-2 (E-Book)
1. Heavy metals--Environmental aspects. I. Sánchez, Mikel L.
TD196.M4C38 2008
628.5'2--dc22 2008030631

Published by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. (cid:30) New York
CONTENTS

Preface vii
Chapter 1 Impacts of the Mining and Smelting Activities to the Environment –
Slovenian Case Studies 1
Gorazd Žibret and Robert Šajn
Chapter 2 Treatment of Acid Mine Drainage by a Combined
Chemical/Biological Column Apparatus: Mechanisms of Heavy
Metal Removal 81
Francesca Pagnanelli, Ida De Michelis, Michele Di Tommaso,
Francesco Ferella, LuigiToro and Francesco Vegliò
Chapter 3 Assisted Phytoextraction for Abandoned Mining Areas Remediation 107
Alessia Cao, Alessandra Carucci and Tiziana Lai
Chapter 4 Phytochelatins in Wild Plants from Guanajuato City – an Important
Silver and Gold Mining Center in Mexico 123
Kazimierz Wrobel, Julio Alberto Landero Figueroa
and Katarzyna Wrobel
Chapter 5 Fate of Trace Elements in the Venice Lagoon Watershed and
Conterminous Areas (Italy) 137
C. Bini
Chapter 6 Anthropogenic Mercury Pollution in Aquatic Systems: A Review of
Enviromental Fate and Human Health Risks 173
S. Michele Harmon
Chapter 7 In Situ Measurement of Metal Concentration in River Water Using
Portable Edxrf System 201
Fábio L. Melquiades, Carlos R. Appoloni, Paulo S. Parreira
and Wislley D. Silva
Chapter 8 Biomonitoring of Heavy Metal Pollution in the Marine
Environment Using Indicator Organisms 249
Joseph Selvin, S. Shanmugha Priya, G. Seghal Kiran
and Saroj Bhosle
vi Contents
Chapter 9 Heavy Metal Contamination in Selected Urban Coastal Regions in
US and China 265
Huan Feng, Weiguo Zhang, Luoping Zhang, Xu-Chen Wang,
Lizhong Yu and Danlin Yu
Chapter 10 Monitoring Heavy Metal Pollution with Transgenic Plants 287
Igor Kovalchuk and Olga Kovalchuk
Chapter 11 Geochemistry of Major and Trace Elements in Core Sediments of
Sunderban Delta, India: An Assessment of Metal Pollution Using
Atomic Absorption Spectrometer and Inductively Coupled Plasma
Mass Spectrometry 305
A. Bhattacharya, K.K. Satpathy, M.V.R. Prasad, J. Canario,
M. Chatterjee, S.K Sarkar, V. Branco, B. Bhattacharya,
A. K. Bandyopadhyay and Md. Aftab Alam
Chapter 12 Heavy Metal Pollution, Risk Assessment and Remediation in Paddy
Soil Environment: Research Experiences and Perspectives in Korea 341
Jae E. Yang, Yong Sik Ok, Won-Il Kim and Jin-Soo Lee
Index 371
PREFACE

A heavy metal is a member of an ill-defined subset of elements that exhibit metallic
properties, which would mainly include the transition metals, some metalloids, lanthanides,
and actinides. Many different definitions have been proposed—some based on density, some
on atomic number or atomic weight, and some on chemical properties or toxicity. The term
heavy metal has been called "meaningless and misleading" in a IUPAC technical report due
to the contradictory definitions and its lack of a "coherent scientific basis". As discussed
below, depending on context, heavy metal can include elements lighter than carbon and can
exclude some of the heaviest metals. One source defines "heavy metal" as "... common
transition metals, such as copper, lead, and zinc. These metals are a cause of environmental
pollution (heavy-metal pollution) from a number of sources, including lead in petrol,
industrial effluents, and leaching of metal ions from the soil into lakes and rivers by acid rain.
Chapter 1 - Slovenia, a central European state with an area of little more than 20.000
km2, has a more than 500-year of metal mining and smelting tradition. In the previous
century, almost all mines and smelting plants were closed, but numerous anomalies were left
behind with total area of approximately 70-80 km2, where the concentrations of the heavy
metals in soils exceed the critical values, concerning Slovenian legislation. The structure of
this paper is as follows: introduction contains the brief description of the historical
background of mining and smelting tradition in Slovenia and a description of each site of
detailed research from historical perspective. After materials and methods chapter which
contains the description of sampling, samples preparation, and data processing, the regional
geochemical trends, based on the 60 sampling points in the Slovenian unpolluted areas, is
presented together with comparison with urban areas. Further on the detailed description of
the geochemical anomalies in the most polluted areas due to metal mining, smelting and iron
working follow. The methodology has been the soil and attic dust sampling around past and
present smelting plants. The areas, where the pollution has been researched in details, are:

• Mežica valley: Pb and Zn mine with smeltery and ironworks where mining tradition
exists since 1665 with the consequence of heavy Pb and Zn pollution, 114 sampling
points where soil and attic dust has been sampled; covered area – 101 km2;
• Celje: 100 years of Zn smelting tradition and 150 years of ironworks left behind
heavy Zn and Cd pollution, 99 sampling points where soil and attic dust has been
collected, covered area - 92 km2;
viii Mikel L. Sánchez
• Jesenice: iron working activities (Jesenice Ironworks company exists from 1937, but
small scale smelting is dated back to the middle ages) left behind moderate Cd, Pb,
Hg and Zn pollution, 44 sampling locations of soil profiles, covered area – 113 km2;
• Litija: polymetallic (Pb, Zn, Hg, Ag, Ba) mining with smaller scale smelting
activities, dating back to the roman times; moderate As, Mo, Hg, Pb, Sb and Sn
pollution, 38 sampling points where soil and attic dust has been collected; covered
area – approx. 30 km2.
• Idrija: world's second largest Hg mine with smelting plant where 500 years of Hg
production left heavy Hg pollution, 103 sampling points where soil and attic dust has
been collected; covered area – 160 km2.

A geochemical characteristic of each area is presented with non-parametrical statistical
properties (median and average value, range, P25-P75). Bivariate statistics include correlation
coefficients between sampling media and multivariate statistics (factor analysis) presents
geochemical associations. Scale of the pollution on each area is presented with the help of
enrichment factors, calculated on the basis of slovenian background values. Further on maps
of spatial distribution of factor scores and of selected chemical elements are made. Discussion
contains the brief summary of the research and the short descriptions of most evident
anomalies.
Chapter 2 - Natural oxidation of sulphide minerals, exposed to the combined action of
oxygen and water, results in the worst environmental problem associated with mining
activities, i.e. acid mine drainage (AMD). Waters polluted by AMD are often characterised by
low pH, elevated concentrations of iron, sulphates and toxic metals.
Biological remediation options in passive systems (permeable reactive barriers, PRB)
usually exploit sulphur production by sulphate reducing bacteria, SRB.
In this report a combined chemical-biological treatment was tested for decontamination
of synthetic AMD containing iron, arsenic, copper, manganese and zinc.
Particular attention was paid to the investigation of the mechanisms involved in pollutant
removal (chemical precipitation, sorption, bioprecipitation and biosorption) as a fundamental
preliminary step for permeable reactive barrier design and long term performance estimation.
Experimental tests were performed both in batch reactors and in a two-column apparatus
for sequential treatment by chemical precipitation (first column filled with natural limestone)
followed by bioprecipitation/biosorption (second column filled with a natural organic mixture
inoculated by sulphate reducing bacteria).
Distinct mechanisms of removal for each metal were identified by combining theoretical
data of metal solution chemistry, and results obtained from independent experimental tests:
batch and column tests, blank tests using natural organic mixture as biosorbing materials, acid
digestions, and selective extractions of metals using solid samples of filling material after
column dismantlement.
This analysis allowed isolating metal-specific mechanism of abatement and denoted the
relevant contribution of biosorption phenomena in metal removal in biological column. This
contribution, generally neglected in biological PRB design with respect to bioprecipitation,
should be taken into account in order to avoid misleading estimation of SRB performance and
also to better estimate PRB duration.
Preface ix
Chapter 3 - The remediation of mining areas represents a relevant environmental problem
in all Europe. The high concentration of heavy metals and the lack of nutrients determines the
desertification of wide areas. In Sardinia (Italy) the poor management of Montevecchio –
Ingurtosu mining district after mine closure caused the dispersion of high amounts of
contaminants by wind and water erosion on wide areas. The wide extension of the
contaminated area and the high level of contamination by heavy metals make the application
of phytoextraction feasible for this area. The environmental risk related to the presence of
heavy metals can be evaluated by determining the bioavailable metal fraction in soil. The
Department of Geoengineering and Environmental Technologies of the University of Cagliari
made experiments of phytoextraction and assisted phytoextraction both with plants having a
high biomass production (Mirabilis jalapa) and with native species (Cistus salvifoliius,
Scrophularia canina and Teucrium flavum). Easily biodegradable chelating agents were
applied in laboratory experiences (MGDA - methylglycine diacetic acid, S,S-EDDS - [S, S]-
ethylenediaminedisuccinic acid, IDSA - iminodisuccinic acid). The ability of the plant species
to tolerate and accumulate heavy metals demonstrated the applicability of phytoextraction to
the abandoned mining areas remediation.
Chapter 4 - Phytochelatins (PCs) are a group of small, metal-binding peptides that are
biosynthesized by higher plants, some fungi and algae in the response to heavy metal
exposure. One actual research topic focuses on better understanding the global effect that all
elements present in natural environments exert on the PCs production by plants.
In this work, PCs levels were evaluated in the wild plants, chronically exposed to low or
moderate levels of heavy metals. The quantification of total PCs in plant extracts was carried
out by HPLC with fluorimetric detection, after derivatization of free –SH groups with
monobromobimane. Additionally, the distribution of metals in molecular mass (MM)
fractions of these same extracts was studied by size exclusion chromatography with on-line
UV and ICP-MS detection. All samples were collected in Guanajuato city (Mexico), which
has long been an important silver and gold mining area. Among different metals reported in
Guanajuato soils, lead, cadmium, copper and silver were selected in this study, because of
their capability to induce phytochelatins in plants. The common plants from this region were
analyzed, namely: Ricinus communis (castor bean), Tithonia diversifolia (Mexican
sunflower) and Opuntia ficus (nopal). The analytical approach involved the ICP-MS analysis
of total elements in soil, soil fractions and wild plants and also the evaluation of relationships
between PCs, metal levels found in plants/soil and different soil parameters.
In the analysis of plants, PC-2, PC-3 and PC-4 were detected in nopal, PC-2 in castor
bean, while in Mexican flower no phytochelatins were found. In further development, the
extracts of soil humic substances were obtained and the distribution of metals in molecular
mass (MM) fractions was studied by size exclusion chromatography with on-line UV and
ICP-MS detection. The soil humic substances (HS) were also assessed.
In search of possible relationship between the parameters measured, the statistical
analysis of correlation was performed. The results obtained indicate that the binding of metals
to soil HS contributes in lowering their uptake by castor bean plant. On the other hand, the
soils collected at nopal roots presented low HS levels and no correlation with metals in plant
was found. The results obtained in the sequential extraction of soils and the abundance of
sulfide minerals in Guanajuato indicate that the sulfide bound metals were the primary forms
of Pb, Cu and Cd in soil adjacent to nopal roots. Owing to their generally poor solubility,
rizosphere processes should be important in mobilizing metals and their uptake by nopal.