Iron oxides minimize arsenic mobility in soil material saturated with saline wastewater

Abstract

The soil material in constructed wetlands is effective in retaining Se from flue-gas desulfurization (FGD) wastewater (WW), but reducing conditions can enhance native-soil As mobility. A laboratory-based soil column experiment was performed to assess the effectiveness of ferrihydrite (Fh) in minimizing the mobility of native-soil As in water-saturated soil material. A saline FGD WW mixture (i.e., influent) was delivered to columns of untreated and Fh-treated soil for 60 d. One untreated column and one Fh-treated column were then subjected to drying, followed by an additional 30 d of influent delivery. Although the influent was low in As (∼1 μg L⁻¹) and the soil As level was normal, the total dissolved As concentration of effluent from the untreated columns increased with time, from ∼1 μg L⁻¹ to a maximum of ∼27 μg L⁻¹. In contrast, effluent from the Fh-treated columns remained low in As (i.e., <5 μg L⁻¹). The strong correlation between total dissolved Fe and As in the effluent suggested that reductive dissolution of native-soil Fe minerals was responsible for releasing As into solution. Results from X-ray absorption spectroscopy showed newly precipitated Fe minerals in the Fh-treated soil, and the remaining As was mainly As(V) species in both the untreated and Fh-treated soils. Thus, native-soil As mobilized under saturated conditions can be sequestered by adding poorly crystalline Fe oxides to soil prior to saturation. Furthermore, results obtained by drying and rewetting the columns showed that saturated conditions must be maintained to minimize the remobilization of sequestered As and retained Se.