Extraction of Lead, Cadmium and Nickel from Contaminated Soil Using Acetic Acid

Abstract

The accumulation of heavy metals in soil is a serious environmental problem. It is well known that heavy metals have an affinity for different compartments of soil. The risk associated with the presence of metals in soil is the ability of their transfer in water or plants. In the present research, batch extraction experiments were conducted using acetic acid (AA) as an extractant solution at various concentrations and contact times to determine the best conditions of soil washing process to achieve high heavy metal removal efficiencies. AA was investigated for its applicability for the removal of lead, cadmium and nickel from soil. Batch soil washing experiments were performed on 1.0 g portions of the spiked soil using different concentrations (0.001, 0.005, 0.01, 0.05, and 0.1 mol/L) of AA (CH3COOH) with solid: liquid ratio of 1:10. The results showed that AA extracted greater Pb than Cd and Ni. The extraction was carried out with shaking times from 15 to 180 min. The removal percentage of Pb varies from 42.2%-100% and Cd from 5.2%-31.1% with increasing concentration of AA, while the removal efficiency of Ni was not exceeded about 1%. Comparing with Pb and Cd, the removal efficiency of Ni was very low; this means that the solubility of Ni in AA was very low. It was found that 0.1 mol/L AA for soil washing was effective in removing absorbed Pb from contaminated soil (100% efficiency) at time 15 min. While the efficiency reaching 100% with washing solution of 0.05 and 0.01 mol/L at times 120 and 180 min, respectively. The efficiencies of Cd and Ni extraction were improved when 1 mol/L of AA solution was used (41.3% to 70.6% for Cd and 16.3% to 23.3% for Ni).