Stabilization of Sewage Sludge by Using Various By-products: Effects on Soil Properties, Biomass Production, and Bioavailability of Copper and Zinc

• Published in: Water, air, and soil pollution Vol. 225; no. 7; pp. 1 - 13
• Main Authors: Shaheen, S. M, Shams, M. S, Ibrahim, S. M, Elbehiry, F. A, Antoniadis, V, Hooda, P. S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer-Verlag 01.07.2014; Springer International Publishing; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Agriculture; Aquatic plants; Aridisols; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Bentonite; Bioavailability; Biomass; biomass production; Biosolids; By products; Byproducts; Chemical properties; Climate Change/Climate Change Impacts; Construction materials; Contaminants; Copper; Copper industry; Crops; Earth and Environmental Science; Eichhornia crassipes; Entisols; Environment; Environmental monitoring; Experiments; Factories; Floating plants; Fly ash; Freshwater; Heavy metals; Hydrogeology; Industrial plants; Land disposal; Metals; Oryza sativa; Plant biomass; Plant extracts; Pollution studies; Rice; Rice straw; Sediments; Sewage sludge; Sludge; Soil (material); Soil fertility; Soil pollution; Soil properties; Soil Science & Conservation; soil treatment; Sorghum; Sorghum bicolor subsp. bicolor; Sorghum vulgare; Stabilization; Sugar; sugar beet; toxicity; Trace elements; Waste disposal; Water Quality/Water Pollution; Zinc; Contaminant stabilization; Waste recycling; Trace elements
• ISSN: 0049-6979; 1573-2932
• DOI: 10.1007/s11270-014-2014-x

Stabilization of sewage sludge (SS) prior to its land disposal may help control the mobility of SS-borne contaminants, particularly potentially toxic metals. We examined the effects of stabilized SS application on soil properties, biomass production, and phytoavailability of Cu and Zn to plants grown in two contrasting soils, Entisol and Aridisol. Stabilized SS mixtures were created by mixing SS in a 3-to-1 ratio with bentonite (B), sugar beet factory lime (SL), brick factory fly ash (BFA), rice straw (RS), water hyacinth (WH), and 50:50 mixture of RS and SL. Mixtures were applied at 50 Mg ha⁻¹, and Sorghum vulgare L. and Eurica sativa were grown in a pot experiment. All the amendments increased plant availability and uptake of both Cu and Zn compared to the unamended control. The application of stabilized SS increased dry plant biomass significantly and decreased DTPA-extractable elements compared to the non-stabilized SS treatment. We conclude that of the six amendments studied, especially sugar beet factory lime (SL) and bentonite (B), are promising for the stabilization of metal-contaminated biosolids and should be tested under field conditions.