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ECO-FRIENDLY METHODS FOR HEAVY METAL REMOVING FROM TARNITA MINING AREA

Gabi Drochioiu

Abstract

Heavy-metal pollution of forest soils around closed mines represents an important environmental concern and we measured the contamination level in the forest plants. The waste material generated by the now-abandoned ore-processing plant of Tarni?a-Suceava, Romania, situated in the Eastern Carpathians, contain large amount of heavy metals, aluminum, and arsenic. The high risk of environmental contamination of sterile dumps is amplified by their susceptibility to airborne, hydromechanical and hydrochemical transport. In the investigated area, the topography, soil, vegetation, hydrology, fauna, microclimate and landscape were much altered or even destroyed. After careful experiments at the laboratory level, we have proposed some chemical remediation and bioremediation methods, which can be used both in Romania and abroad. This research relies thus on eco-friendly methods for heavy metals removal from contaminated forests with mining waste. First of all, we determined the high concentrations of Cu, Fe, Pb, Zn, Ba, and As, and observed that they affect much the germination of wheat seeds used here as an indicator of toxicity. Moreover, the germination of Triticum aestivum L. was even interrupted by sterile dump material, which is highly concentrated in copper and arsenic. The yeast-based decontamination of soil containing high amounts of heavy metals and arsenic, originated from a sterile dump of Tarnita-Suceava, Romania, was then studied among other bioremediation methods. However, yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) succeeded to retain only partly heavy metals and arsenic from soil extracts. By our opinion, the high amounts of metalic contaminants should be first removed by chemical ways for example by precipitation at pH 12 (out of contaminated site), filtration or centrifuging and then neutralization of filtrate/supernatant to pH 6-7. Electrolysis could be also used to recover precious or harmful metals. Therefore, in this particular case the ex situ chemical decontamination with alkaline solutions in order to hinder further and continuous contamination of soil and natural waters by the waste huge deposits should be followed by some mild bioremediation procedures able to remove in due time almost all the metal ions found in great excess around the barite and copper closed mines.

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DOI resolver: doi.org/10.5593/sgem2017/51/s20.039

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