Remediation of the Contaminated Soils by Washing with an Aqueous Cysteamine Lixiviant

Abstract

In order to decrease the content of heavy metals in the crops soils, a novel method based on using an aqueous solution bearing cysteamine as the key ingredient was studied to extract the polluted heavy metals including Cd, Cu, Zn, Ni and Pb. By using the single-factor method, remediation-related technical index were screened and they are, respectively, applied to the solid material whereby the heavy metals are released and extracted from the solid material. The biomass solution residues remaining in the solid material after the heavy metal extraction procedure is rapidly biodegradable, so that no objectionable traces remain in the solid materials or soils.