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Review
. 2020 Jun 17;10(39):23221-23232.
doi: 10.1039/d0ra01507e. eCollection 2020 Jun 16.

Describing the toxicity and sources and the remediation technologies for mercury-contaminated soil

Dongye Teng  1   2 , Kang Mao  1 , Waqar Ali  1   2 , Guomin Xu  1   3 , Guopei Huang  1 , Nabeel Khan Niazi  4 , Xinbin Feng  1 , Hua Zhang  1
Affiliations
Review

Describing the toxicity and sources and the remediation technologies for mercury-contaminated soil

Dongye Teng et al. RSC Adv. .

Abstract

Mercury (Hg) is a natural element and its compounds are found as inorganic and organic forms in the environment. The different Hg forms (e.g., methylmercury (MeHg)), are responsible for many adverse health effects, such as neurological and cardiovascular effects. The main source of Hg is from natural release. Nevertheless, with the development of industrialization and urbanization, Hg-contaminated soil mainly influenced by human activities (especially near mercury mining areas) has become a problem. Therefore, much more attention has been paid to the development and selection of various treatment methods to remediate Hg-contaminated soils. This paper presented a systematical review of the recent developments for the remediation of Hg-contaminated soils. Firstly, we briefly introduced the Hg chemistry, toxicity and the main human activity-related sources of mercury in soil. Then the advances in remediation technologies for removing Hg pollution from the soil were summarized. Usually, the remediation technology includes physical, chemical and biological remediation technology. Depending on this, we further classified these remediation technologies into six techniques, including thermal desorption, electrokinetic extraction, soil washing, chemical stabilization, phytoremediation and microbial technology. Finally, we also discussed the challenges and future perspectives of remediating Hg-contaminated soils.

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Conflict of interest statement

There are no conflicts to declare.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. Geochemical cycle of mercury (Hg).
Fig. 2
Fig. 2. The technologies for remediation of heavy metal contaminated soils.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3. Schematic diagram of electrokinetic remediation device (A) and mechanism (B).
Fig. 4
Fig. 4. Mechanisms of phytoremediation.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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