Remediation methods of heavy metal contaminated soils from environmental and geotechnical standpoints

Zia Ur Rehman; Muhammad Faisal Junaid; Nauman Ijaz; Usama Khalid; Zain Ijaz

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.161468

Remediation methods of heavy metal contaminated soils from environmental and geotechnical standpoints

Sci Total Environ. 2023 Apr 1:867:161468. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.161468. Epub 2023 Jan 7.

Authors

Zia Ur Rehman¹, Muhammad Faisal Junaid², Nauman Ijaz³, Usama Khalid⁴, Zain Ijaz⁵

Affiliations

¹ School of Civil Engineering and Surveying, University of Portsmouth, Portland Building, Portland Street, Portsmouth PO1 3AH, United Kingdom. Electronic address: lei-m16@tsinghua.org.cn.
² Department of Materials Engineering and Physics, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Slovak University of Technology, Bratislava 810 05, Slovakia; College of Civil and Transportation Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, PR China. Electronic address: muhammad.junaid@stuba.sk.
³ Key Laboratory of Geotechnical and Underground Engineering of Ministry of Education, College of Civil Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, PR China. Electronic address: nauman_ijaz99@tongji.edu.cn.
⁴ Geotechnical Engineering Department, National Institute of Transportation (NIT), National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Risalpur 23200, Pakistan. Electronic address: usama.khalid@nit.nust.edu.pk.
⁵ Key Laboratory of Geotechnical and Underground Engineering of Ministry of Education, College of Civil Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, PR China. Electronic address: zain@tongji.edu.cn.

PMID: 36627001
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.161468

Abstract

Heavy metal contaminated soil (HMCS) threatens world health and sustainable growth, owing to which numerous remediation methods have been devised. Meanwhile, environmental sustainability and geotechnical serviceability of remediated HMCS are important considerations for reusing such soils and achieving sustainable development goals; therefore, these considerations are critically reviewed in this article. For this purpose, different onsite and offsite remediation methods are evaluated from environmental and geotechnical standpoints. It was found that each remediation method has its own merits and limitations in terms of environmental sustainability and geotechnical serviceability; generally, sustainable green remediation (SGR) and cementation are regarded as effective solutions for the problems related to the former and latter, respectively. Overall, the impact of remediation techniques on the environment and geotechnical serviceability is a developing area of study that calls for increased efforts to improve the serviceability, sustainability, reusability and environmental friendliness of the remediated HMCS.

Keywords: Environmental sustainability; Geotechnical serviceability; Hazardous material; Heavy metal contaminated soils; Remediation methods.

Publication types

Review