Table Of ContentSPRINGER BRIEFS IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
Tongbin Chen · Mei Lei ·
Xiaoming Wan · Xiaoyong Zhou ·
Jun Yang
Phytoremediation
of Arsenic
Contaminated
Sites in China
Theory and Practice
123
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Tongbin Chen Mei Lei Xiaoming Wan
(cid:129) (cid:129) (cid:129)
Xiaoyong Zhou Jun Yang
(cid:129)
Phytoremediation of Arsenic
Contaminated Sites in China
Theory and Practice
123
TongbinChen Mei Lei
InstituteofGeographicSciencesandNatural InstituteofGeographicSciencesandNatural
Resources Research Resources Research
ChineseAcademy of Sciences ChineseAcademy of Sciences
Beijing,China Beijing,China
UniversityofChineseAcademyofSciences UniversityofChineseAcademyofSciences
Beijing,China Beijing,China
Xiaoming Wan Xiaoyong Zhou
InstituteofGeographicSciencesandNatural InstituteofGeographicSciencesandNatural
Resources Research Resources Research
ChineseAcademy of Sciences ChineseAcademy of Sciences
Beijing,China Beijing,China
UniversityofChineseAcademyofSciences UniversityofChineseAcademyofSciences
Beijing,China Beijing,China
Jun Yang
InstituteofGeographicSciencesandNatural
Resources Research
ChineseAcademy of Sciences
Beijing,China
UniversityofChineseAcademyofSciences
Beijing,China
ISSN 2191-5547 ISSN 2191-5555 (electronic)
SpringerBriefs inEnvironmental Science
ISBN978-981-15-7819-9 ISBN978-981-15-7820-5 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7820-5
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Contents
1 Arsenic Hyperaccumulator Pteris vittata L. and Its Arsenic
Accumulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Arsenic Hyperaccumulating Characteristics of Pteris vittata . . . . . 1
1.2 Biological Characteristics of Pteris vittata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.3 Distribution of Pteris vittata in the World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.4 Ecotypes of P. vittata with Varied as Accumulating Abilities . . . . 7
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2 Arsenic Hyperaccumulation Mechanisms: Absorption,
Transportation and Detoxification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.1 Distribution and Transformation of as in Pteris vittata . . . . . . . . . 15
2.2 Relationship of Arsenic with Phosphorus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.3 The Translocation of as Driven by Transpiration . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.4 Compartmentation and Chelation with Thiols. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
3 Establishment of Phytoremediation Technology for Arsenic
Contaminated Soil. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
3.1 Frames of the Phytoremediation Technology of Arsenic
Contaminated Soil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
3.2 Key Process of Phytoremediation Technology of Arsenic
Contaminated Soil: Sporelings Culture and Safe Incineration . . . . 35
3.3 Strengthening Strategies for Phytoremediation Technology . . . . . . 39
3.3.1 Fertilizer Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
3.3.2 Harvest Cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
3.3.3 Ecotype Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
3.4 Biogeochemical Cycles of Arsenic in the Phytoremediation
Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
v
vi Contents
4 Application of Phytoremediation Technology to Typical Mining
Sites in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
4.1 In Situ Phytoremediation Projects by P. vittata. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
4.2 The First Phytoremediation Project for Arsenic Contaminated
Soil: Chenzhou, Hunan Province. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
4.3 The Biggest Phytoremediation Project for Arsenic Contaminated
Soil: Huangjiang, Guangxi Autonomous Region. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
4.3.1 Background Information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
4.3.2 Selection of Remediation Technology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
4.3.3 Evaluation of Remediation Efficiency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
4.3.4 Calculation of Cost and Benefit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
4.4 The First Enterprise-Paid as Contaminated Brown Site
Remediation Project: Yunnan Chihong Zn & Ge Co., LTD. . . . . . 60
4.5 Expand the Arsenic Phytoremediation Practice to Northern
China: Jiyuan Henan Province. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
5 Evaluation of Phytoremediation Efficiency: Field Experiences . . . . . 71
5.1 Evaluation Based on the Decrease in Soil as Concentration. . . . . . 72
5.2 Evaluation Based on Arsenic Amount Accumulated in
Hyperaccumulating Plant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
5.3 The Change in the Bioavailability of As . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
5.4 Future Development of the Evaluation Method
for Phytoremediation Efficiency. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Chapter 1
Arsenic Hyperaccumulator Pteris vittata
L. and Its Arsenic Accumulation
Abstract Sinceitsidentificationasanarsenic(As)hyperaccumulator,theAsaccu-
mulatingand biological characteristics ofPterisvittata L.have received extensive
investigation.ItwellsatisfiestherequirementsofanAshyperaccumulator,withthe
abovegroundAsconcentrationhigherthan1000mgkg−1,higherAsconcentration
inshootsthanroots,andwellgrowthonheavilyAscontaminatedsoil.Furthermore,
it has wide distribution in the world, big biomass, extensive root system; and it is
abletobeharvestedmorethantwiceeveryyear.Thesecharacteristicsmakeitappro-
priateplantmaterialforphytoextractionofAsfromsoil.Besides,studieshavebeen
conductedonselectingecotypesabletosimultaneouslyextractmulti-metal(loid)sor
tobeappliedtothesustainablemanagementofslightlycontaminatedsoil.
· · · ·
Keywords Arsenichyperaccumulator Ecotype Fern Pterisvittata Spore
1.1 ArsenicHyperaccumulatingCharacteristicsofPteris
vittata
Phytoremediation, using specific plants to clean up the environment, is a tech-
nology that become known to academia in 1990s (Cunningham and Berti 1993;
Salt et al. 1998). Phytoremediation, in the broad sense, includes three categories:
(1)phytoextraction,usinghyperaccumulator,thatcanaccumulatealargeamountof
toxiccontaminantsintheabovegroundparts,toremovethemfromsoil;(2)phytosta-
bilization, using plants to decrease the bio-availability of contaminants in soil; (3)
rhizofiltration, using plants to remove contaminants from water (Salt et al. 1995).
Phytoremediation, in the narrow sense, mainly refers to phytoextraction, which is
alsothemainsubjectofthisbook.Themaintargetsofphytoextractionareinorganic
contaminants,suchasarsenic(As),cadmium(Cd),nickel(Ni),andzinc(Zn).
Before the discovery of As hyperaccumulating ability of P. vittata, there was
noreportedarsenic(As)hyperaccumulator.MostknowhyperaccumulatorswereNi
hyperaccumulators. In 2000 and 2001, scientists from China and the US reported
theAshyperaccumulationabilityofthisfern(ChenandWei2000;Maetal.2001).
Throughextensivefieldsurvey,labanalysis,andgreenhouseexperiment,ithasbeen
©TheAuthor(s)2020 1
T.Chenetal.,PhytoremediationofArsenicContaminatedSitesinChina,
SpringerBriefsinEnvironmentalScience,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7820-5_1
2 1 ArsenicHyperaccumulatorPterisvittataL.andItsArsenic
Fig.1.1 AsconcentrationsinsoilsandP.vittatainthefield
confirmedthatP.vittataisanAshyperaccumulator.Itsatisfiesthecriteriaofhyperac-
cumulator:concentrationsofAsintheabovegroundpartshigherthan1000mgkg−1,
translocationratioofAsfromrootstoshootshigherthan1,andnotoxicssymptoms
exposingtohighconcentrationsofAs(ChenandWei2000).
FieldsurveyindicatedthatP.vittatacannormallygrowonsoilwithanAsconcen-
tration higher than 2% (w:w). The highest As concentration in the leaves (fronds)
of P. vittata reached 1540 mg kg−1, and the lowest also as high as 120 mg kg−1
(Fig. 1.1). This value was thousands of times higher than that in normal plants.
And the As concentration in the leaves of P. vittata increased with an increase in
the concentration of As in soil. But with the As concentration in the soil further
increasing from1% (w:w) to 2.5% (w:w),the As concentration in the leaves ofP.
vittatadidnotincrease.
In the greenhouse experiments (Fig. 1.2), the As hyperaccumulating ability of
thisfernwasfurtherconfirmed.ThehighestAsconcentrationintheleaves(fronds)
of P. vittata in the greenhouse experiment reached 5070 mg kg−1 after six-month
growingonacontaminatedsoilcontaining3400mgAskg−1(Chenetal.2002).And
itisnoticeablethattheAsconcentrationsintheleavesofP.vittataincreasedlinearly
withtime(R2=0.999,P<0.01).
Besides,thetranslocationratioofAsfromrootstoshootswasfoundtobealways
higher than 1 (Fig. 1.3), despite the provided As concentration in soil. These As
hyperaccumulatingcharacteristicsindicatedhighpotentialofthisferntobeapplied
tophytoextractionofAsfromcontaminatedsoils.
1.2 BiologicalCharacteristicsofPterisvittata 3
Fig.1.2 ChangeinAsconcentrationsP.vittatawithculturetimeinthegreenhouse
Fig.1.3 Asconcentrationinsoil,rootandleaf(frond)ofP.vittata
1.2 Biological CharacteristicsofPterisvittata
P.vittatabelongstothegenusPterisfromPteridaceae.Beforethediscoveryofits
As hyperaccumulating ability, it was reported by literature as a Chinese medicine,
