TY - JOUR
T1 - Metal and nanoparticle occurrence in biosolid-amended soils
AU - Yang, Yu
AU - Wang, Yifei
AU - Westerhoff, Paul
AU - Hristovski, Kiril
AU - Jin, Virginia L.
AU - Johnson, Mari Vaughn V
AU - Arnold, Jeffrey G.
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was funded by the Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF) and USEPA ( RD831713 and RD833322 ). Funding for sample collection at field sites was provided by Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grant no. 2008-35101-04440 to JGA from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture . Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the WERF, USEPA, and USDA. We thank Sungyun Lee and Xiangyu Bi for their help in the analysis of metal contents by ICP‐MS.
PY - 2014/7/1
Y1 - 2014/7/1
N2 - Metals can accumulate in soils amended with biosolids in which metals have been concentrated during wastewater treatment. The goal of this study is to inspect agricultural sites with long-term biosolid application for a suite of regulated and unregulated metals, including some potentially present as commonly used engineered nanomaterials (ENMs). Sampling occurred in fields at a municipal and a privately operated biosolid recycling facilities in Texas. Depth profiles of various metals were developed for control soils without biosolid amendment and soils with different rates of biosolid application (6.6 to 74. dry tons per hectare per year) over 5 to 25. years. Regulated metals of known toxicity, including chromium, copper, cadmium, lead, and zinc, had higher concentrations in the upper layer of biosolid-amended soils (top 0-30. cm or 0-15. cm) than in control soils. The depth profiles of unregulated metals (antimony, hafnium, molybdenum, niobium, gold, silver, tantalum, tin, tungsten, and zirconium) indicate higher concentrations in the 0-30. cm soil increment than in the 70-100. cm soil increment, indicating low vertical mobility after entering the soils. Titanium-containing particles between 50. nm and 250. nm in diameter were identified in soil by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) coupled with energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDX) analysis. In conjunction with other studies, this research shows the potential for nanomaterials used in society that enter the sewer system to be removed at municipal biological wastewater treatment plants and accumulate in agricultural fields. The metal concentrations observed herein could be used as representative exposure levels for eco-toxicological studies in these soils.
AB - Metals can accumulate in soils amended with biosolids in which metals have been concentrated during wastewater treatment. The goal of this study is to inspect agricultural sites with long-term biosolid application for a suite of regulated and unregulated metals, including some potentially present as commonly used engineered nanomaterials (ENMs). Sampling occurred in fields at a municipal and a privately operated biosolid recycling facilities in Texas. Depth profiles of various metals were developed for control soils without biosolid amendment and soils with different rates of biosolid application (6.6 to 74. dry tons per hectare per year) over 5 to 25. years. Regulated metals of known toxicity, including chromium, copper, cadmium, lead, and zinc, had higher concentrations in the upper layer of biosolid-amended soils (top 0-30. cm or 0-15. cm) than in control soils. The depth profiles of unregulated metals (antimony, hafnium, molybdenum, niobium, gold, silver, tantalum, tin, tungsten, and zirconium) indicate higher concentrations in the 0-30. cm soil increment than in the 70-100. cm soil increment, indicating low vertical mobility after entering the soils. Titanium-containing particles between 50. nm and 250. nm in diameter were identified in soil by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) coupled with energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDX) analysis. In conjunction with other studies, this research shows the potential for nanomaterials used in society that enter the sewer system to be removed at municipal biological wastewater treatment plants and accumulate in agricultural fields. The metal concentrations observed herein could be used as representative exposure levels for eco-toxicological studies in these soils.
KW - Metal profile
KW - Nanomaterials
KW - Soil
KW - Titanium
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U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.03.122
DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.03.122
M3 - Article
C2 - 24742554
AN - SCOPUS:84908292582
SN - 0048-9697
VL - 485-486
SP - 441
EP - 449
JO - Science of the Total Environment
JF - Science of the Total Environment
IS - 1
ER -