20.500.12556/DiRROS-15223 Assessment of natural zeolite clinoptilolite for remediation of mercury-contaminated environment The soil at ancient roasting sites in the surroundings of the Idrija mine (Slovenia) is highly contaminated with mercury. To assess the impact of mercury on groundwater by infiltration and find an eco-friendly remediation method, the leaching of mercury from the soil containing 1347 mg Hg/kg, followed by sorption of the total leached mercury on cost-effective natural zeolite (NZ) clinoptilolite, was performed. The leaching of soil in ultrapure water of pHo = 3.00–11.46 after 24 h resulted in the total leached mercury concentration in the range 0.33–17.43 µg/L. Much higher concentrations (136.9–488.0 µg/L) were determined after the first few hours of leaching and were high above the maximum permissible level in water for human consumption. The NZ showed very good sorption of the total leached mercury, with a maximum removal efficiency of 94.2%. The leaching of mercury in presence of the NZ resulted in a significant decrease of the total leached mercury (1.9–20.3 µg/L compared to 12.8–42.2 µg/L), with removal efficiencies up to 90.5%, indicating immobilization of mercury species. The NZ has a great potential for economically viable remediation of mercury-contaminated environment. However, efforts should be made in the further study of mercury leachability to reduce the mercury concentration in water to acceptable levels. Idrija mine mercury-contaminated soil and water leaching natural zeolite clinoptilolite remediation true false true MDPI Angleški jezik Ni določen Delo ni kategorizirano 2022-06-23 08:39:03 2022-06-23 08:53:48 2022-08-21 03:36:08 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2022 0 0 23 str. no. 4 vol. 10 2022 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova Objavljeno NiDoloceno 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 504.5 2227-9717 10.3390/pr10040639 112548867 processes-10-00639-v2.pdf processes-10-00639-v2.pdf 1 7E4B86C5D0A8074DCFB92CC7659BC139 02740a9df9728bcd8a25eae209e46fd900234bba9855becfc56243f811159ffd f1aaf272-17b6-11ed-b6b8-001a4af901a5 https://dirros.openscience.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=19963 Geološki zavod Slovenije 0 0 0