Arsenic mobility and stabilization in topsoils

Agricultural topsoil can be polluted with arsenic due to irrigation with contaminated water from geothermal sources. This work evaluates the mobility of arsenic in topsoils and stabilization of arsenic with zero valent iron (ZVI), in short term experiments. The objective of this study was the development of a simplified empirical model that can predict the concentration of iron released from ZVI and the concentration of arsenic remaining in the solution during short term stabilization experiments. The empirical model correlates the release of arsenic from soil with dissolved iron concentration during stabilization experiments, in different pH and ZVI/solution ratios. Reaction time and the ratio of ZVI/soil affect the efficiency of arsenic stabilization in topsoils with ZVI. In addition, the release/desorption experiments and adsorption experiments, under different conditions, showed that the concentration of arsenate desorbed from soil depends on the temperature. Higher concentrations of arsenate were reported, as the temperature increased.