Reclamation of zinc-contaminated soil using a dissolved organic carbon solution prepared using liquid fertilizer from food-waste composting

Highlights: • Nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium contents in soil are substantially increased after the DOC washing. • The removal of Zn is dominated by proton replacement at pH 2.0, rather than by complexation with DOC. • The removal of Zn is dominated by DOC complexation between pH 3.0 and pH 5.0. - Abstract: A liquid fertilizer obtained through food-waste composting can be used for the preparation of a dissolved organic carbon (DOC) solution. In this study, we used the DOC solutions for the remediation of a Zn-contaminated soil (with Zn concentrations up to 992 and 757 mg kg⁻¹ in topsoil and subsoil, respectively). We then determined the factors that affect Zn removal, such as pH, initial concentration of DOC solution, and washing frequency. Measurements using a Fourier Transform infrared spectrometer (FT-IR) revealed that carboxyl and amide were the major functional groups in the DOC solution obtained from the liquid fertilizer. Two soil washes using 1,500 mg L⁻¹ DOC solution with a of pH 2.0 at 25 °C removed about 43% and 21% of the initial Zn from the topsoil and subsoil, respectively. Following this treatment, the pH of the soil declined from 5.4 to 4.1; organic matter content slightly increased from 6.2 to 6.5%; available ammonium (NH₄⁺-N) content increased to 2.4 times the original level; and in the topsoil, the available phosphorus content and the exchangeable potassium content increased by 1.65 and 2.53 times their initial levels, respectively.