Removal of Pb, Zn, and Cd from contaminated soil by new washing agent from plant material

Abstract

Soil washing is an effective approach to remove soil heavy metals, and the washing agent is generally regarded as one of the primary factors in the process, but there is still a lack of efficient and eco-friendly agents for this technique. Here, we showed that four plant washing agents—from water extracts of Coriaria nepalensis (CN), Clematis brevicaudata (CB), Pistacia weinmannifolia (PW), and Ricinus communis (RC)—could be feasible agents for the removal of soil lead (Pb), zinc (Zn), and cadmium (Cd). The metal removal efficiencies of the agents increased with their concentrations from 20 to 80 g L⁻¹, decreased with the increasing solution pH, and presented different trends with the reaction time increasing. CN among the four agents had the highest removal efficiencies of soil Pb (62.02%) and Zn (29.18%) but owned the relatively low Cd removal efficiencies (21.59%). The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy showed that the abilities of plant washing agents for the removal of soil heavy metals may result from bioactive substances with specific functional groups such as –COOH, −NH₂, and −OH. Our study provided CN as the best washing agents for the remediation of contaminated soil by heavy metals.

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