Impact of biochar amendment on the uptake, fate and bioavailability of pharmaceuticals in soil-radish systems

Yuanbo Li, Jianzhou He, Haonan Qi, Hui Li, Stephen A. Boyd, Wei Zhang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

34 Scopus citations

Abstract

Crops grown in soils receiving wastewaters, biosolids, or manures can accumulate pharmaceuticals in edible parts, raising concerns over potential human exposure to multiple pharmaceuticals. Nonetheless, viable mitigation options for minimizing plant uptake of pharmaceuticals are limited. This study evaluated how biochar amendment could influence the uptake of 15 pharmaceuticals by radish (Raphanus sativus) grown in a sandy loam at two amendment rates (0.1 and 1% w/w). Comparing with that in the unamended soil, the accumulation of acetaminophen, carbamazepine, sulfadiazine, sulfamethoxazole, lamotrigine, carbadox, trimethoprim, oxytetracycline, tylosin, estrone, and triclosan in radish grown in the soil amended with 1.0% of biochar was significantly decreased by 33.3–83.0%. However, the concentration of lincomycin in radish was increased by 36.7–48.2% in the soil amended with 1% biochar. While the soil amended with 1.0% of biochar had increased sorption of all 15 pharmaceuticals, the persistence of 7 pharmaceuticals in the soil were prolonged, including caffeine, sulfadiazine, sulfamethoxazole, lincomycin, estrone, 17 β-estradiol and triclosan. The reduced plant uptake of pharmaceuticals was mainly due to their lowered concentrations in pore water by the presence of biochar. Overall, the estimated daily intake data suggest that biochar amendment could potentially decrease total human exposure to a mixture of pharmaceuticals.

Original languageEnglish
Article number122852
JournalJournal of Hazardous Materials
Volume398
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 5 2020
Externally publishedYes

Scopus Subject Areas

  • Environmental Engineering
  • Environmental Chemistry
  • Waste Management and Disposal
  • Pollution
  • Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis

Keywords

  • Bioavailability
  • Biochar
  • Pharmaceuticals
  • Plant uptake
  • Soil pore water

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