Special Issue "Soil Heavy Metal Pollution, Remediation, and Risk Assessment"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Sustainability and Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Erkai He
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Geographic Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China
Interests: heavy metal; soil remediation; effect assessment; immobilization; bioavailability
Dr. Hao Qiu
E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
Interests: trace element; toxicity; model; sustainable remediation; green technology
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We all depend on soil for a wide diversity of ecosystem services, for the production of food and water (provisioning service), for the control of climate and disease (regulating service), for global elemental cycles (supporting service), and for spiritual and recreational benefits (cultural service). Unfortunately, soil is a fragile resource. Anthropogenic activities are increasingly causing soil degradation and a decline in biodiversity which, in turn, threatens to diminish the capacity of the earth to sustain us. Often, soil can become contaminated with trace elements due to either accidental or deliberate release. In this Special Issue, we are therefore highly interested in contributions related to soil pollution control and sustainable remediation technology. In particular, we encourage our peers to submit their studies exploring the behavior, fate, bioavailability, and effects of typical metals in soil before and after remediation. We welcome all the topics that promote a qualitative and/or quantitative understanding of chemical and biological processes involved in the remediation of contaminated soils.

Dr. Erkai He
Dr. Hao Qiu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • soil remediation
  • heavy metal
  • bioavailability
  • model
  • toxicity
  • risk assessment

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

Article
Evaluation of the Potential Role of Bacillus altitudinis MT422188 in Nickel Bioremediation from Contaminated Industrial Effluents
Sustainability 2021, 13(13), 7353; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13137353 - 30 Jun 2021
Viewed by 501
Abstract
The incessant pervasiveness of heavy metals in the environment is one of the precursory factors of pollution. This research study was endeavored upon to investigate the bioremediation potential of a nickel (Ni)-resistant bacterial isolate, identified as Bacillus altitudinis MT422188, whose optimum growth parameters [...] Read more.
The incessant pervasiveness of heavy metals in the environment is one of the precursory factors of pollution. This research study was endeavored upon to investigate the bioremediation potential of a nickel (Ni)-resistant bacterial isolate, identified as Bacillus altitudinis MT422188, whose optimum growth parameters were demonstrated at pH 7, temperature 32 °C, and 1 mM phosphate. Minimal Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) and EC50 for Ni were observed to be 20 and 11.5 mM, respectively, whereas the cross heavy-metal resistance was discerned as Cu2+ (25 mM) > Zn2+ (15 mM) > Cr6+ (10 mM) > Pb2+ (5 mM) > Co2+ (8 mM) > Cd2+ (3 mM) > Hg2+ (0 mM). Ni biosorption studies by live and heat-killed bacterial cells were suggestive of Ni uptake being facilitated by an ATP-independent efflux system. A pilot-scale study displayed the effective removal of Ni (70 mg/L and 85 mg/L) at 4- and 8-day intervals, respectively. Moreover, chemotaxis and motility assays indicated the role of Ni as a chemoattractant for bacterial cells. The presence of Ni reduced the GR (0.001 ± 0.003 Ug−1FW), POX (0.001 ± 0.001 Ug−1FW), and SOD (0.091 ± 0.003 Ug−1FW) activity, whereas Sodium dodecyl sulphate—Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) revealed the presence of metallothionein (60 kDa). Kinetic and isotherm studies suggested a pseudo second-order and Freundlich model to be better fitted for our study. The thermodynamic parameters (∆H° = 3.0436 kJ/mol, ∆S° = 0.0224 kJ/mol/K) suggested the process to be endothermic, spontaneous, and favorable in nature. FTIR analysis elucidated the interaction of hydroxyl and carboxyl groups with Ni. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDS) demonstrated changes in the morphological and elemental composition of the bacterial cells, which affirmed their interaction with Ni during biosorption. In summary, our study concludes the efficient role of Bacillus altitudinis MT422188 in removing Ni from polluted industrial effluents. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Heavy Metal Pollution, Remediation, and Risk Assessment)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop