Effects of eggshell addition on calcium-deficient acid soils contaminated with heavy metals

In this study, effects of water conditions (flooded, wet, or dry) and eggshell dosages (0, 0.1, 1.0, and 10.0 g/kg soil, respectively) on pH variation, content of unavailable state of heavy metals, form of heavy metals, and available nutritious element calcium (Ca) in acid soils contaminated with heavy metals were investigated, respectively. The soil samples were continuously cultivated indoors and analyzed by toxicity characteristic leaching procedure and community bureau of reference (BCR) sequential extraction procedure. The results showed that the addition of eggshell could effectively improve the pH of acid soil and increase it to neutral level. Moreover, the contents of unavailable state of heavy metals Cu, Zn, and Cd increased significantly. Furthermore, when the soil was cultivated under the flooded condition with 1.0 g/kg eggshell, the unavailable state of Cu, Zn, and Cd increased the most, and these heavy metals were transformed into residual state. On the other hand, the amount of available state of Ca increased to 432.19 from 73.34 mg/kg with the addition of 1.0 g/kg eggshell, which indicated that the addition of eggshell dramatically improved the available state of Ca. Therefore, eggshell could ameliorate the soil environment as it led to the decrease of available heavy metals and improvement of fertilization effectively. In a word, this study indicates that the addition of eggshell would be a new potential method for remediation of acid field soils contaminated with heavy metals.