Rare earth elements and other trace elements in wastewater treatment sludges
1998
Kawasaki, A. (National Inst. of Agro-Environmental Sciences, Tsukuba, Ibaraki (Japan)) | Kimura, R. | Arai, S.
In order to evaluate the possibility of contamination of soil with trace elements by the application of sludges to soil, the contents of rare earth elements (REEs; La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Tb, and Lu) and other trace elements (Be, As, Ag, Cd, Sb, Cs, Bi, and U) in wastewater treatment sludges were determined. In sludges of night soil treatment plants (night soil sludges) and sludges of wastewater treatment plants in the food industry (food industry sludges), the distribution patterns of REEs normalized versus average REEs in the continental crust were almost flat. It was considered that the REE patterns of uncontaminated sludges reflected the pattern of the continental crust. The crust-normalized REE patterns of sludges of wastewater treatment plants in the chemical industry (chemical industry sludges) and municipal sewage sludges did not always show flat plots. The sludges that did not show a flat REE pattern were considered to be contaminated with some of the REEs. The coefficient of variation of each element determined among the 10 samples of night soil sludges and the 14 samples of sewage sludges ranged from 34 to 77% and from 26 to 84%, respectively. Among the 10 samples of food industry sludges and the 10 samples of chemical industry sludges, the coefficient ranged from 60 to 143% and from 67 to 172%, respectively. The variations of the content of each element among the food industry sludges or the chemical industry sludges were larger than those among the night soil sludges or the sewage sludges
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