ABSTRACT
Phytomanagement uses plants and soil conditioners to create value on contaminated land while minimizing environmental risk. This work was carried out on a metal(loid)-contaminated site and aimed at assessing the suitability of Salvia sclarea L. (sage) and Coriandrum sativum L. (coriander) combined with an arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus (AMF) inoculant to immobilize metal(loid)s and produce essential oils (EO). The effect of the inoculant on the transfer of metal(loid)s (ML, i.e., Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn, As, Ni, and Sb) to plants and the ML soil mobility were investigated. The ML concentrations in EO from both plant species and the valorization options for the distillation residues (soil conditioner, animal fodder, and anaerobic digestion) were studied. Sage was a suitable candidate for this value chain because it presents an excluder phenotype and the residues of oil extraction could be used as a soil conditioner. The metal concentrations in the sage EO were similar to those obtained from plants cultivated on an uncontaminated soil. These results indicate the suitability of sage harvested on the contaminated soil according to the ML fate in the whole value chain. Like the EO of sage, ML concentrations in the coriander EO did not differ from those in the commercial EO that were obtained from plants grown on uncontaminated soil. However, the use of distillation residues of coriander was limited by their relatively elevated Cd concentrations. The use of a mycorrhizal inoculum did not decrease the Cd mobility in soil for the coriander.
Subject(s)
Metals, Heavy , Oils, Volatile , Plants, Medicinal , Soil Pollutants , Biodegradation, Environmental , Metals, Heavy/analysis , Soil , Soil Pollutants/analysisABSTRACT
The environmental performance of mechanical biological pre-treatment (MBT) of Municipal Solid Waste is quantified using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), considering one of the 57 French plants currently in operation as a case study. The inventory is mostly based on plant-specific data, extrapolated from on-site measurements regarding mechanical and biological operations (including anaerobic digestion and composting of digestate). The combined treatment of 46,929 tonnes of residual Municipal Solid Waste and 12,158 tonnes of source-sorted biowaste (as treated in 2010 at the plant) generates 24,550 tonnes CO2-eq as an impact on climate change, 69,943kg SO2-eq on terrestrial acidification and 19,929kg NMVOC-eq on photochemical oxidant formation, in a life-cycle perspective. On the contrary MBT induces environmental benefits in terms of fossil resource depletion, human toxicity (carcinogenic) and ecotoxicity. The results firstly highlight the relatively large contribution of some pollutants, such as CH4, emitted at the plant and yet sometimes neglected in the LCA of waste MBT. Moreover this study identifies 4 plant-specific operation conditions which drive the environmental impact potentials induced by MBT: the conditions of degradation of the fermentable fraction, the collection of gaseous flows emitted from biological operations, the abatement of collected pollutants and NOx emissions from biogas combustion. Finally the results underline the relatively large influence of the operations downstream the plant (in particular residuals incineration) on the environmental performance of waste MBT.
