Mechanistic insights into the synergetic remediation and amendment effects of zeolite/biochar composite on heavy metal-polluted red soil

Highlights

● Converting of red soil into a zeolite framework has been reported for the first time.

● Zeolite/biochar composite material exerts significant effects on synergetic heavy metal remediation and soil quality amendment.

● The observation of single atoms after soil remediation indicates single atoms may be a universal phenomenon in natural environment.

Abstract

Red soil, the most critical soil resource in tropical/subtropical regions worldwide, faces tremendous threats, including nutrient deficiency, acidification, and heavy metal contamination. There is a great demand for multifunctional eco-materials capable of modifying this situation. Herein, we used widely distributed soil and biomass to develop a zeolite/biochar composite for synergistic red soil remediation and amendment. With the composite material, the Pb²⁺ and Cd²⁺ remediation efficiencies reached 92.8% and 92.9%, respectively, in stems under optimal conditions. Moreover, the acidity and nutrient deficiency conditions of red soil significantly improved. The atomic-scale interaction mechanism during the remediation and amendment process was elucidated with complementary characterization methods, which revealed that in the zeolite/biochar composite material, zeolite contributes to long-term heavy metal remediation effects. Simultaneously, biochar is responsible for soil quality amendment and short-term heavy metal remediation. Furthermore, for the first time, single-atom heavy metal ions were observed on biochar during the remediation process, indicating the broad distribution of single atoms in the natural environment.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Red soil / Heavy metal pollution / Zeolite/biochar composite / Soil remediation / Soil amendment

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2021YFA1202500), the Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Soil and Groundwater Pollution Control (No. 2023B1212060002), the Stable Support Plan Program of Shenzhen Natural Science Foundation (No. 20231122110855002), the High level of special funds (No. G03050K001) from SUSTech and a Special Fund for the Science and Technology Innovation Strategy of Guangdong Province (No. PDJH2021C0033). In particular, we acknowledge the technical support from the SUSTech Core Research Facilities.

Conflict of Interests

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Electronic Supplementary Material

Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-024-1874-6 and is accessible for authorized users.

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