A feasibility study on cleaning Pb-contaminated soil with chelating agents

In this paper, the complexing abilities of EDTA, TTHA and Cit. with lead in the Pb(2.59 mg/g) contaminated soil were compared in the laboratory. Possibilities for lead and the threeagents to develop stable complexes increased proportionally to the growth of lead complexible formwhen the PH values ranged between 4 and 6. Under acid conditions, logB_(Pb-TTHA)) valued as 28.1 wasmuch higher than logB_(Pb-EDTA), as 18.0 depending on producing Pb_2-TTHA (logK_(Pb_2-TTHA= 11 0) andPb-HTTHA (logK(Pb-HTTTHA)=8.2)). Conclusively, the complexing ability of TTHA with Pb still ex-aseded that of EDTA by about 10% even when the amount of TTHA added was only equal to onefourth of that of EDTA. Due to the lower cost and less harzn to crops, Cit. can still be taken as abetter chelating agent in acid soil although its coordinative capability with Pb was weaker thanEDTA and TTHA.