18 February 2008, BIOTEC, Thailand Science Park

Phytoremediation of heavy
metal polluted sites in China

Yongming Luo, Jing Song and Longhua Wu

Soil and Environment Bioremediation Research Center (SEBC)

Key Laboratory of Soil Environment and Pollution Remediation
Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ISSCAS)
 Outline
¾ Brief introduction to ISSCAS and SEBC
¾ Overview of phytoremediation studies in China
¾ Phytoextraction of soil Zn/Cd by sedum plumbizincicola
¾ Biodegradable EDDS induced phytoextraction of soil Cu
¾ Energy crop production on Cu mine tailings
¾ Potential areas for future collaboration
Brief introduction to ISSCAS
and SEBC
Nanjing, Jiangsu province, China
 Institute of Soil Science, CAS

¾ Founded in 1953, as a successor to the

former Soil Division of the National
Geological Survey of China, which was
founded in 1930
¾ 3 main research areas:
1. Soil Resources and Management
2. Soil Fertility and Regulation
3. Soil Environment and Health
 State Key Lab of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture

Dept. of Soil Resources & Remote Sensing Applications

Dept. of Soil-Plant Nutrition and Fertilizers

Dept. of Soil Chemistry and Environmental Protection

Dept. of Soil Physics and Saline Soils

Dept. of Soil Biology and Biochemistry

Research System Soil and Environment Bioremediation Research Center

Soil Utilization and Environ. Change Research Center

Fengqiu Agro-ecological Experimental Station

Yingtan Red Soil Ecological Experimental Station

Changshu Agro-ecological Experimental Station

Soil Sub-center of CERN

Center for Analysis and Test

Library
Support System Editorial Offices of ‘Pedosphere’, ‘Acta Pedologica Sinica’,’Soils’

Soil Monolith Exhibition Center

Http://www.issas.ac.cn/english/index.asp
z Established in 2002
z Director: Prof. Dr. Yongming Luo
z 11 Staff: 2 Professors, 3 Associate
Professors, 2 Assistant Professors, 2 lab
assistants, 1 secretary, 1 project manager
z 2 visiting scientists, 2 Post-doc, 27
students
 5 research areas at SEBC
1. Phytoremediation of Heavy Metal Polluted Soil
2. Bioremediation of POPs Polluted Soil
3. Investigation, Assessment and Remediation of
Polluted Sites
4. Biomonitoring of Polluted Soil and Bioremediation of
Petroleum Contaminated Soil
5. Regional Soil Environmental Geochemistry and
Sustainable Management
http://www.sebc.org.cn/trs/dtnews/index_English.asp
Overview of phytoremediation
studies in China
 Population vs Resources

Per capita farmland: 0.094 ha, Per capita water availability: 2200 m3,
40% of world average. 25% of world average. 1760 m3 by
2030
 Development vs Environment & Health
Industrialization Urbanization Wastewater Atmosphere
Primary pollutants (NOx、VOCs)
Secondary pollutants (oxidants, fine
particulates)
Solid waste

Agro-products
Intensive agriculture
Exhaust gases Soil Plant

Agrochemicals Water

Rapid development Environment

HM POPs
 Soil Pollution in China

¾ 10M ha arable land polluted

¾ 2.17M ha irrigated by wastewater
¾ 0.13M ha occupied by solid waste
¾ 12M ton a-1 cereal contaminated by HMs, 20B.
RMB in direct loss
--- S.X. Zhou, July 2007
Cu smelting in Fuyang, Zhejiang
 Why phytoremediation?
1. Large areas of polluted arable land: ~10%
2. Pollution depth: surface or plow layer
3. Pollution levels: light to moderate
4. Mixed pollutants (HM, metalloids, pesticides,
POPs, petroleum etc.)
5. Cost effective and sustainable remediation
technology is desirable
 Phytoremediation papers by Chinese authors
in the past decade

160 60
Review
Research paper Research
140 50
Review
120
Total

Number of papers
Numbers of Paper

40
100

80 30
60
20
40

20 10
0
0
97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Year
Year

Papers in Chinese Papers in English

 Continuous Hyperaccumulator
phytoextraction (As/Zn/Cd/Pb/Cu/Mn)

Chemically Enhanced Accumulator

Phytoextraction (Cu/Zn/Pb/Cd)
Phyto
Studies Excluder/energy crop
in Phytostabilisation (Cu/Zn/Pb/Cd)
China
Phytovolatilisation Hg/MTBE

Rhizo-degradation Rhizo-degradation
(PAHs/PCBs)

Phytofiltration Metals/N/P
 Identify native metal hyper/accumulators
1. As: Pteris vitatta (Chen et al., 2000, 2002)

Pteris cretica (Wei et al., 2002)

2. Zn/Cd: Sedum alfredii (Yang et al., 2001)

Zn/Cd: Sedum jinianum and Sedum plumbizincicola (Wu et al., 2006)
3. Pb: L. Amaranthus tricolor, Sophora japonica, Bidens maximowicziana

(Nie et al., 2004) ~0.12%

Chenopodium ambrosioides (Wu et al., 2004) ~0.38%

4. Cu: Elsholtzia splendens (Yang et al., 1998)

Commelina communis ( Shu et al., 2001)

5. Cd: Viola baoshanensis (Liu et al., 2003)

6. Mn: Phytolacca acinosa Roxb (Xue et al., 2003)

Enhancement of phytoextraction efficiency

¾ Increase plant biomass by agronomic

measures such as fertilization, increasing
planting density, cuttings etc.
¾ Increase metal solubility by adding soil
additives such as EDTA, EDDS, sulfur etc.
¾ Make use of synergistic effects between VAM
fungi-plant or between plants (intercropping)
 From lab to field: 3 Phyto demo sites
sponsored by High-Tech Program, MOST

Cu
As

Zn
Cu Phyto demo site (ISSCAS)
E. splendens is a Cu tolerant species like S. vulgaris

(Song et al., 2004)

 田间
Growth of wheat 18 a
16 Pot trial
Field trial 14 b

Yield (g/pot)
b
12
10
8
6 c
4 c
d
2
0
CK F CuN CuM1 CuM2 CuM3
CK F CuN CuM1 CuM2 CuM3
Tr eat ment

Cu rich compost
1
Elsholtzia splendens

Post-harvest
treatments
4 2
3
fluidized bed
naphtha

flavone
Phytostabilisation of soil metals

Vetiveria zizanioides
As Phyto demo Site (IGSNRR)

Pteris vittata
 As speciation in Pteris vitatta using
Synchrotron Radiation Extended X-ray
absorption fine structure (SR EXAFS)

¾ As in Pteris vitatta is mainly coordinated with

oxygen in reduced state As (III).
¾ Reduction of As (V) occurred in the root after
taken up
¾ No oxidation of As (III) was found during the
translocation of As from root to shoot
¾ Only small amount of As was coordinated with
sulfur in root and petiole, but not distinct in
pinna.
(Huang et al., 2003)
Phytoextraction of soil Zn/Cd by SCAU

Sedum alfredii intercropped with Zea mays

Additives (citric acid+monosodium glutamate wastewater+EDTA)
‘Cancer Villages’: Shangbai village, Shaoguan, Guangdong
Phyto-volatilisation of Hg

1. Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology,

Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai
2. Zhejiang University, Hangzhou
 GM Tobacco for Hg phytovolatilisation

Control merB GM

(Tian et al. 2002)

Spartina anglica

Introduced to China from

America in 1960s to protect
coastal mudflat
High adaptability, fast growth
Biological invasion
 Hydroponic experiment

Shoot Root

Biomass of S. anglica and tobacco 10 days after MeHgCl treatment

(Tian et al., 2004)

Hg speciation and distribution in plant and nutrient solution 10 days
after 15 μmol/L MeHgCl treatment

Transformation Translocation
Before After Solution Root Shoot
Organic Hg 100% 42.3% 47.2% 18.9% 33.9%

Inorganic Hg 0 53.7% 18.0% 36.6% 45.3%

(Tian et al., 2004)

Phytoextraction of soil Zn/Cd
by Sedum plumbizincicola
 千亩田
玉岩山
平水
上台门

淳安 姚王

大岭口
璜山

治头岭

安树坳

Cd/Zn: Sedum Cd/Zn: Sedum

jinianum plumbizincicola
Contamination level pH Zn (mg kg-1) Cd (mg kg-1)
Low 6.47 321 1.11
Moderate 6.95 2367 5.82
High 7.13 4343 10.6
Very high 7.24 6499 15.3
Panorama view of phyto. demo. Site in Zhejiang

S. plumbizincicola Intercropped with maize

Biodegradable chelant EDDS induced
phytoextraction
 Important processes during chelant
induced phytoextraction

Chelants

9 Desorption
9 Transport
(IV) 9 Root uptake
Clay 9 Translocation
minerals (I) (II) (III) 9 Competition
Metal oxides
between metals
9 Degradation
SOM
9 Leaching
9 Evapotranspiration
Logarithm of stability constant of metal-EDTA and
metal-EDDS complexes (25ºC, Ionic strength=0.1M)

Cations Log KMeEDTA Log KMeEDDS

Fe3+ 25.00 22.00*
Cu2+ 18.70 18.36
Ni2+ 18.52 16.79
Pb2+ 17.88 12.70*
EDTA Al3+ 16.50
Zn2+ 16.44 13.49*
Cd2+ 16.36 10.80*
Fe2+ 14.27
Mn2+ 13.81 8.95*
Ca2+ 10.61 4.23
Mg2+ 8.83 5.82
EDDS * Data for 20ºC
(Martel et al., 1974)
 pH: 7.8, OM:44 g/kg
Pot experiment Metal (mg/kg): Cu: 223, Zn:1068, Pb:232, Cd: 2.8
2500
Leaf
Stem
2000
Shoot Cu (mg kg )
-1

1500

1000

500

0
CK EDTA EDDS EDDS EDDS EDDS EDDS
3 1.5 3 6 3-2 3-4

Treatments (Song et al, 2006)

Leaf wilt 2 days after addition of 6 mmolkg-1 EDDS

Q: lower rate, longer

exposure, higher
accumulation?
 Plant Cu vs soluble Cu at day 4
2500 Stem Leaf
Cu in aboveground part (mg/kg

2000

1500

1000

500

0
0 50 100 150 200
Cu in soil solution (mg/l)

(Song et al, 2006)

 Field lysimeter study

z pH 8.2, Clay 16.8%

z Metals (mg/kg): Cu:166, Zn:1122, Pb:300, Cd: 1.9
z Plot: 4m*5m, 4 replicates per treatment
z Lysimeter depth: 5, 20 and 50 cm, 3 replicates per depth
z Treatment: No EDDS and 2mmol EDDS/kg
z Plant: E. splendens
z Rain event: 14 days after EDDS application
z Plant harvest: 28 days after EDDS application
Soil solution Cu and DOC after rain event

Treatment No EDDS 2mmol/kg EDDS No EDDS 2mmol/kg

EDDS
Cu (mg/l) DOC
5 cm 0.10 (0.06-0.17) 0.14 (nd-0.36) 46 (32-62) 39 (7.9-67)
20 cm 0.07 (0.04-0.15) 32 (17-41) 42 (30-54) 129 (109-134)
50 cm 0.01 (0.01-0.01) 0.97 (0.33-3.24) 27 (22-40) 53 (41-80)

(Hu et al., IJP, 2007)

¾ EDDS-Indian mustard combination has potential in
phytoextraction of Cu from multiple metals
contaminated soil
¾ Leaching and evapotranspiration processes need to
be considered in field application. Soil column study
is needed to identify optimal EDDS application rate
¾ Long-term field monitoring is necessary to probe into
the real risk of EDDS induced metal leaching to
groundwater.
¾ Mechanistic models are needed to predict metal
leaching to groundwater
Energy crop production on Cu mine
tailings
Energy crop production on Cu mine tailings
pH EC OM TN TP TK Cu Zn Pb Cd
ms/cm g/kg mg/kg
TL (0-10cm) 7.0 0.57 0.23 0.018 0.97 1.94 1216 443 2.7 0.98
TL (11-50cm) 7.2 0.43 0.38 0.016 0.39 1.85 1826 332 10.5 0.47
DX (0-30cm) 4.0 0.20 0.13 0.12 0.77 29.2 578 27 3.9 BDL
DX (31-50cm) 7.1 0.18 0.34 0.051 0.68 29.7 2052 36 BDL BDL
Sludge compost 5.9 8.64 333 24.5 86.5 5.18 347 1824 98 1.74
Phosphate rock 8.2 0.29 BDL BDL 117.5 0.22 4.37 19 1.4 BDL
 Laboratory test Lysimeter test
200
TLMT

Dry weight (g
150 TLMT+SC+PR

100

50

0
Miscanthus
芒草 Vetiver
香根草

12

10

Cu (mg/kg)
8
120 10
6
Root length (mm

8
90 Miscanthus sinensis 4
pH or EC

6
2
60
4 0
30
2

.
.
.

.
.

TV
M

M
V

+V
M

T+
L+

T+
T+

T+
T+

M
T
M

M
M
M
M

X
M
0 0

TL

D
TL

X
TL

X
TL

D
D
D

ed
ed
ed

ed

ifi
0 1 2 5 7.5 10 13 17 20

ifi
ifi

ifi

od
od
od

od

M
M
M

M
Sludge compost %

TL leachate

120 10 1.0 TLMT TLMT+SC+PR

Root length (mm

90 8 0.8
pH or EC

C u (mg/L)
6 0.6
60
4 0.4
30 2 0.2
0.0
0 0
75 150 225 300 375 450
0 1 2 5 7.5 10 13 17 20
Leaching volumn(mm)
Sludge compost % Vetiveria zizanioides
Potential areas for future cooperation
1. Comprehensive management of Cd
contaminated agricultural soil
2. Molecular mechanism of Zn and Cd
hyperaccumulation by Sedum plumbizincicola
3. Revegetation, ecological restoration and
bioenergy production on degraded land
4. Other suggestions?
Welcome to Nanjing, China!
Thank you!
jingsong@issas.ac.cn