Composite Biochar with Municipal Sewage Sludge Compost—A New Approach to Phytostabilization of PTE Industrially Contaminated Soils
Maja Radziemska,
Mariusz Zygmunt Gusiatin,
Zbigniew Mazur,
Algirdas Radzevičius,
Agnieszka Bęś,
Raimondas Šadzevičius,
Jiri Holatko,
Midona Dapkienė,
Inga Adamonytė,
Martin Brtnicky
Affiliations
Maja Radziemska
Institute of Environmental Engineering, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, 02-787 Warsaw, Poland
Mariusz Zygmunt Gusiatin
Faculty of Geoengineering, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, 10-719 Olsztyn, Poland
Zbigniew Mazur
Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Pl. Łódzki 4, 10-727 Olsztyn, Poland
Algirdas Radzevičius
Department of Water Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Vytautas Magnus University Agriculture Academy, Studentų Str. 11, Akademija, LT-52261 Kaunas, Lithuania
Agnieszka Bęś
Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Pl. Łódzki 4, 10-727 Olsztyn, Poland
Raimondas Šadzevičius
Department of Water Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Vytautas Magnus University Agriculture Academy, Studentų Str. 11, Akademija, LT-52261 Kaunas, Lithuania
Jiri Holatko
Department of Agrochemistry, Soil Science, Microbiology and Plant Nutrition, Faculty of AgriSciences, Mendel University in Brno, Zemedelska 1, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic
Midona Dapkienė
Department of Water Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Vytautas Magnus University Agriculture Academy, Studentų Str. 11, Akademija, LT-52261 Kaunas, Lithuania
Inga Adamonytė
Department of Water Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Vytautas Magnus University Agriculture Academy, Studentų Str. 11, Akademija, LT-52261 Kaunas, Lithuania
Martin Brtnicky
Department of Agrochemistry, Soil Science, Microbiology and Plant Nutrition, Faculty of AgriSciences, Mendel University in Brno, Zemedelska 1, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic
The presence of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) in soils can upset the natural balance and increase the risk of PTE incorporation into the food chain. The use of composite biochar with municipal sewage sludge compost (MSSC/C) can be an effective way of both managing waste, such as sewage sludge, and providing an effective additive-supporting phytostabilization processes. The effectiveness of D. glomerata and MSSC/C in the technique of assisted phytostabilization of industrially contaminated soils was determined under the pot experiment conditions. The PTE contents in D. glomerata and the soil were determined using the spectrophotometric method. The addition of MSSC/C to PTE-contaminated soil contributed to an 18% increase in plant biomass and increased the soil pH by 1.67 units, with the PTE concentration being higher in the roots than in the above-ground parts of D. glomerata. The MSSC/C addition had the strongest effect on the reduction in Cd, Cr, and Ni contents in the soil following the completion of the experiment. The current study confirmed the effectiveness of MSSC/C in aiding the phytostabilization processes in PTE-contaminated soils.
