Extractable Heavy Metals in Phosphogypsum

In addition to supplying the essential elements, Ca and S, phosphogypsum can have profound effect on both the physical and chemical properties of certain soils. However, no widespread use of by-product phosphogypsum will be made unless such uses pose no threat to the public health and soil contamination. In this study, the extractability of As, Cd, Cu, and Pb with water and DTPA solution from phosphogypsum samples of pH 3, 5, and 7 were investigated to estimate the availability of those metals. Contents of water extractable metals in ohosphogypsum were less than 5 mg/kg for all the heavy metals investigated. The extractability of metals in DTPA solution was not quite different but a little higher in comparison to the water extraction. And the extractability was decreased as the pH of phosphogypsum increased. In the phosphogypsum of pH 7, amounts of water extractable metals were nearly zero. There was no significant difference in the amount of extractable metals during the extraction period of 5 weeks. The length of extraction time did not affect heavy metal extractability. Therefore there may be small fractions of easily soluble or extractable forms of metals in the phosphogypsum and most of the metals would be present in very insoluble forms. These results suggest that the application of phosphogypsum at appropriate rates on agricultural lands appears of no concern in terms of hazardous element contamination in soil.