Application of sequential analysis with the BCR method in the estimation of effects of chemical remediation of soil polluted with copper

Abstract

The study presented here was conducted in vegetation experiments and focused on the determination of the fractional content of copper in a polluted soil, with relation to the chemical remediation applied, through sequential extraction with the optimised BCR method (Community Bureau of Reference). To simulate an actual condition, the soil was polluted with copper and incubated, and then mixed with suitable remediation additives. The experimental crop plant was sown into the soil prepared as above. Following the harvest of the crop plant, soil samples were taken and, after suitable preparation, subjected to sequential chemical analysis. The results of copper fractioning in the soil with the BCR method revealed that increasing level of soil pollution resulted primarily in an increase in the level of the fraction easily dissolving in an acid environment (F1). The remediation treatments applied differentiated, in particular, the share of that fraction with the greatest importance in terms of copper uptake by plants. The best effects in terms of reducing the share of F1 in favour of F2- reducible, at all the levels of soil pollution with copper, were observed in the case of peat (3% by weight) applied together with liming in accordance with single hydrolytic acidity. Depending on the remediation applied, the content of copper fractions F1 and F2 in the soil varied in an inverse proportion to each other. The results obtained demonstrated the importance of sequential extraction analysis of the metal in soil for the prediction of changes in its solubility and for the determination of its availability for plants.