Use of industrial residues for heavy metals immobilization in contaminated site remediation: a brief review

International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-022-04184-x REVIEW Use of industrial residues for heavy metals immobilization in contaminated site remediation: a brief review S. Schlögl1 · P. Diendorfer2 · A. Baldermann3 · D. Vollprecht1 Received: 6 December 2021 / Revised: 1 April 2022 / Accepted: 8 April 2022 © The Author(s) 2022 Abstract The increasing use of industrial residues for the remediation of landscapes contaminated with heavy metals diminishes the negative environmental impact of the contamination itself, reduces the demand for primary raw materials and minimizes the costs for the disposal of the residues. On the other hand, industrial residues often contain heavy metals themselves, which make their application for contaminated site remediation controversial. This study assembles and compares results of different investigations, such as laboratory tests, greenhouse tests and full-scale field tests, concerning heavy metals immobilization in soils all over the world. This review begins with an overview of the principles of immobilization and then focusses on two major groups of industrial residues: (i) residues from metallurgy (slags and red mud) and (ii) residues from thermal processes, i.e. incineration and pyrolysis. The feasibility of industrial residue applications in contaminated site remediation is presented exemplarily for the immobilization of arsenic, cadmium, cobalt, chromium, copper, manganese, nickel, lead and zinc. Red mud and steel slag additives show a high removal efficiency for specific heavy metals at contaminated field sites, whereas fly ash and biochar applications exhibit a high performance for various heavy metals uptake at laboratory scale, bearing a high potential for the extension to full-industrial scale. The latter materials may increase the soil pH, which favours the sorption of cationic heavy metals, but may decrease the sorption of hazardous oxyanions. Graphical abstract Products Residue Improper handling of pollutants Improper disposal of wastes Contaminated site In-situ immobilizaon Remediated site Highlights • • • • Red mud and steel slag are successfully used for the in situ immobilization of heavy metals. Red mud application may increase the mobility of arsenic and copper in alkaline media. Fly ash and biochar are highly promising according to laboratory-scale studies. Alkaline residues (red mud, steel slag, fly ash) are efficient for remediating cationic metals (e.g. Pb, Zn). Editorial responsibility: Maryam Shabani. * D. Vollprecht Extended author information available on the last page of the article 13 Vol.:(0123456789) International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology Keywords Heavy metal immobilization · Industrial residues · Fly ash · Metallurgical residues · Contaminated site remediation · Environmental pollution Introduction Along with industrialization and technological progress, the anthropogenic impact on the environment has increased significantly over the last two centuries. Human activities have caused an enduring level of contamination in particular in soils, surface-near sediments and the aquatic environments due to, e.g. mining (Concas et al. 2006), fossil fuel combustion (Kapička et al. 1999), traffic and transportation (Ma et al. 2016), agricultural chemicals (Perkovich et al. 1996), households and industrial waste disposal (Querol et al. 2006) or industry (Sedlazeck et al. 2017). The increasing contamination of the terrestrial and aquatic environment with persistent heavy metals is one of the most severe problems in recent decades, arising from their high toxicity, fast accumulation, non-biodegradability and endurance (Nagajyoti et al. 2010). The partially toxic or cancerogenic, but generally health-damaging, heavy metal ions, such as arsenic (As3+/5+), cadmium ( Cd2+), cobalt ( Co2+), chromium (Cr3+/6+), copper (Cu2+), manganese (Mn2+), nickel (Ni2+), lead (Pb2+) and zinc (Zn2+), can react with bioparticles in the human body and other life forms, which can cause numerous diseases and disorders even at low concentration levels (Femina Carolin et al. 2017; Ma et al. 2018). There is no consistent definition of heavy metals in the scientific literature, but Hawkes (1997) defines them as “a block of all the metals in groups 3 to 16 that are in periods 5 and greater”. In contrast, Ali and Khan (2018) define them as “naturally occurring metals having atomic numbers (Z) greater than 20 and an elemental density greater than 5 g cm−3”. The toxicity level of most of these heavy metals depends mainly on the concentration, speciation and bioavailability, with the latter being predetermined by ligand complexation and oxidation state of the specific chemical component (Jaishankar et al. 2014). Heavy metals are soluble in certain pH ranges, which strongly affect their persistency versus mobility in natural and also technical surroundings. The solubility of most heavy metals depends on the type of the chemical bonding (minerally, (ad)sorptive, complexed, etc.), but is generally highest in the acidic pH range, although others are also soluble in the circum-neutral to alkaline range (Brümmer 1986). Many metals such as Zn, Cd and Pb show a higher mobility at lower pH (Hermann and Neumann-Mahlkau 1985), whereas others such as Mo show a maximal adsorption in this range (Goldberg et al. 1996). Furthermore, most of the heavy metal ions show specific oxidation–reduction (redox) features, as well as distinct aquo-speciation and ligand complex formation 13 characteristics, which define their mobility, chemical reactivity and toxicity among others in the environment (Femina Carolin et al. 2017; Friesl-Hanl and Horak 2011). The high number of contaminated sites worldwide and the distinct (site-specific) contamination require fast, efficient, economic and safe methods for the remediation the of hazardous heavy metal ions. In recent decades, immobilization of heavy metals has become one of the most widely used techniques for environmental clean-up and protection, as it reduces the mobility and bioavailability of the heavy metal ions of concern. The immobilization methods developed so far aim to improve the quality of soils, sediments and (ground)water, besides ensuring safe agriculture products and minimizing risks for human beings and the environment, e.g. by reducing the phytotoxicity or leaching into the groundwater (Friesl-Hanl and Horak 2011; Ma et al. 2018). Immobilization of heavy metals in contaminated site remediation can be conducted ex situ (Xia et al. 2019) and in situ (Czupyrna et al. 1989). State-of-the-art in in situ immobilization is the use of cementitious or clay-supported suspensions (Dörrie and Längert-Mühlegger 2010; Baldermann et al. 2021a). This method leads to the formation of hydrated binder phases, which incorporate the heavy metals in their structure, but also clog the pores in the soil, thereby decreasing the permeability (Paria (...truncated)