Transformations of elemental mercury to inorganic and organic forms in mercury and hydrocarbon co-contaminated soils

There are many industrial sites, such as gas processing plants, that are contaminated with both mercury and hydrocarbons. These sites tend to be localized but can have very high concentrations of mercury in the soil and heterogeneous distribution of hydrocarbons. The original form of mercury in many...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Chemosphere (Oxford) Vol. 45; no. 6; pp. 1103 - 1109
Main Authors:	Renneberg, A.J, Dudas, M.J
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01-11-2001 Elsevier
Subjects:	Applied sciences Biological and physicochemical properties of pollutants. Interaction in the soil Biological Availability Chemical extraction Contaminated soil Distribution Earth sciences Earth, ocean, space Engineering and environment geology. Geothermics Environmental Monitoring Environmental Pollutants - analysis Environmental Pollutants - metabolism Exact sciences and technology Hydrocarbons Hydrocarbons - analysis Industrial Waste Mercury Mercury - analysis Mercury - chemistry Mercury - metabolism Organic Chemicals Pollution Pollution, environment geology Risk Assessment Soil and sediments pollution Soil Pollutants - analysis Time Factors Transformation products Canada Alberta North America America Transformation products Hydrocarbons Contaminated soil Chemical extraction Mercury Distribution Sorption Fractionation Hydrocarbon Pollutant behavior Medium effect Geochemistry Industrial area Soil pollution Solubilization Speciation Heavy metal
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Summary:	There are many industrial sites, such as gas processing plants, that are contaminated with both mercury and hydrocarbons. These sites tend to be localized but can have very high concentrations of mercury in the soil and heterogeneous distribution of hydrocarbons. The original form of mercury in many cases was elemental mercury from broken manometers. Over time the mercury has become redistributed within soil and has undergone chemical transformations into new forms. The forms of mercury will govern the chemical behavior and the availability of the mercury to biological receptors. The availability of the mercury is important as it will govern the risk associated with the contaminated soil and will also determine the effectiveness of any attempts at remediation. In the present study a chemical extraction protocol was used to determine the forms of mercury in soil originally contaminated by spillage of elemental mercury and petroleum hydrocarbons. Chemical extractions have been used in the past to determine the forms of mercury in uncontaminated soils and several researchers have used them to study contaminated soils. However, to date, no researchers have studied the forms of mercury in soils following years of weathering of elemental mercury after a spill. This study shows that decades after the original spill the elemental mercury has transformed and is dominantly (up to 85%) associated with soil organic matter, and to a lesser extent the mineral fraction of soil.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23 ObjectType-Article-1 ObjectType-Feature-2
ISSN:	0045-6535 1879-1298
DOI:	10.1016/S0045-6535(01)00122-9