Treatment processes to eliminate potential environmental hazards and restore agronomic value of sewage sludge: A review

Land application of sewage sludge is increasingly used as an alternative to landfilling and incineration owing to a considerable content of carbon and essential plant nutrients in sewage sludge. However, the presence of chemical and biological contaminants in sewage sludge poses potential dangers; therefore, sewage sludge must be suitably treated before being applied to soils. The most common methods include anaerobic digestion, aerobic composting, lime stabilization, incineration, and pyrolysis. These methods aim at stabilizing sewage sludge, to eliminate its potential environmental pollution and restore its agronomic value. To achieve best results on land, a comprehensive understanding of the transformation of organic matter, nutrients, and contaminants during these sewage-sludge treatments is essential; however, this information is still lacking. This review aims to fill this knowledge gap by presenting various approaches to treat sewage sludge, transformation processes of some major nutrients and pollutants during treatment, and potential impacts on soils. Despite these treatments, overtime there are still some potential risks of land application of treated sewage sludge. Potentially toxic substances remain the main concern regarding the reuse of treated sewage sludge on land. Therefore, further treatment may be applied, and long-term field studies are warranted, to prevent possible adverse effects of treated sewage sludge on the ecosystem and human health and enable its land application.

Prediction models based on soil properties for evaluating the heavy metal uptake into Hordeum vulgare L. grown in agricultural soils amended with different rates of sewage sludge

The current study aims at forming new prediction models to be employed in the approximating the possible uptake of a range of 10 heavy metals (HMs) (Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb and Zn) by Hordeum vulgare tissues including roots, shoots and grains following its growth in soil amended with sewage sludge (SS) using conditions employed in greenhouses. The present study determined an insignificant difference between the actual and predicted quantities of the HMs in the three tissues using t values. The majority of the predicted quantities of the HMs were acceptable with the exception of Cd in the shoots, Cu in grains and Pb in roots. Consequently, it is possible to use these models in assessing the cultivation of barley plants in soil amended with SS in a safe way, while simultaneously monitoring any potential risks to the health of humans.

Evaluation of uptake of eight metals by Sorghum bicolor grown in arable soil combined with sewage sludge based on prediction models

Prediction models were developed to estimate the extent to which aluminium, chromium, copper, iron, manganese, nickel, lead, and zinc were absorbed in the grains, leaves, stems, and roots of Sorghum bicolor cultivated in soil with various amendment rate of sewage sludge (0, 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 g/kg) under greenhouse conditions. It was found that, aside from lead, all the examined metals occurred in significantly higher content in the roots compared to aerial tissues. Furthermore, the r-values were significantly negative between the bioconcentration factors of all metals, apart from aluminium and lead, and soil pH, whereas they were significantly positive between the bioconcentration factors, apart from lead, and soil organic matter content (OM). The r-values were typically significantly positive between the levels of all eight metals in the investigated tissues and in the soil. Moreover, the content of all the eight metals in the tissues exhibited a significant negative r-value with soil pH but a significant positive r-value with soil OM. The eight metal contents in the tissues given by the prediction models were quite similar to the real values, suggesting that the created models performed well, as shown by t-tests. It was thus concluded that prediction models were a viable option for evaluating how safe it was to grow S. bicolor in soils with sewage sludge content and at the same time for keeping track of possible human health hazards.

Effects of different sewage sludge applications on heavy metal accumulation, growth and yield of spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.)

In this study, we present the response of spinach to different amendment rates of sewage sludge (0, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 g kg^-1) in a greenhouse pot experiment, where plant growth, biomass and heavy metal uptake were measured. The results showed that sewage sludge application increased soil electric conductivity (EC), organic matter, chromium and zinc concentrations and decreased soil pH. All heavy metal concentrations of the sewage sludge were below the permissible limits for land application of sewage sludge recommended by the Council of the European Communities. Biomass and all growth parameters (except the shoot/root ratio) of spinach showed a positive response to sewage sludge applications up to 40 g kg^-1 compared to the control soil. Increasing the sewage sludge amendment rate caused an increase in all heavy metal concentrations (except lead) in spinach root and shoot. However, all heavy metal concentrations (except chromium and iron) were in the normal range and did not reach the phytotoxic levels. The spinach was characterized by a bioaccumulation factor <1.0 for all heavy metals. The translocation factor (TF) varied among the heavy metals as well as among the sewage sludge amendment rates. Spinach translocation mechanisms clearly restricted heavy metal transport to the edible parts (shoot) because the TFs for all heavy metals (except zinc) were <1.0. In conclusion, sewage sludge used in the present study can be considered for use as a fertilizer in spinach production systems in Saudi Arabia, and the results can serve as a management method for sewage sludge.

Effects of selected soil properties on phytoremediation applicability for heavy-metal-contaminated soils in the Apulia region, Southern Italy

Phytoremediation is a well-known promising alternative to conventional approaches used for the remediation of diffused and moderated contaminated soils. The evaluation of the accumulation, availability, and interactions of heavy metals in soil is a priority objective for the possible use of phytoremediation techniques such as phytoextraction and phytostabilization. The soils used in this work were collected from a number of sites inside a protected area in the Apulia region (Southern Italy), which were contaminated by various heavy metals originated from the disposal of wastes of different sources of origin. Soils examined contained Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn in amounts exceeding the critical limits imposed by EU and Italian laws. However, the alkaline conditions, high organic matter content, and silty to silty loamy texture of soils examined would suggest a reduced availability of heavy metals to plants. Due to the high total content but the low available fraction of heavy metals analyzed, especially Cr, phytoextraction appears not to be a promising remediation approach in the sites examined, whereas phytostabilization appears to be the best technique for metal decontamination in the studied areas.