Use of liming in the remediation of soils polluted by sulphide oxidation: A leaching-column study

Pure CaCO3 in ascending quantities was added to a soil to study the effect of liming after contamination by an acidic solution from the oxidation of pyrite tailings. The samples were placed in percolation columns, and soils and leachates were monitored. In the soil samples, the mineralogy, pH, CaCO3, iron, and total content in Cu, Zn, As, Cd, and Pb were determined. The presence of CaCO3 in the soils considerably limited their acidification, favouring the precipitation of Cu, Zn, and Cd, and promoting precipitation of iron and SO42− ions in the form of iron hydroxysulphates and gypsum. The iron hydroxysulphates tended to retain the less mobile elements (As, and Pb) near the top of the soil. The more mobile elements (Zn, Cd and Cu) precipitated in deeper layers, directly related mainly to the CaCO3 added and to pH. The CaCO3 clearly did not reduce Zn and Cd toxicity effectively enough, given that the concentrations of both elements were above the toxic level in all leachates. The amounts of liming needs to be properly controlled, as excessively high pH limits As fixing, at the same time as the effectiveness of CaCO3 is limited by coating precipitation, reducing its capacity to react with the acidic solution.