Date of Award
5-1998
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Departmental Honors
Department
Chemistry and Biochemistry
Abstract
The bioremediation of contaminated soils or the biomining of waste tillings has been explored through the use of hyperaccumulating plants such as S. polygaloides which is a nickel hyperaccumulator. However, it is important to discover which soils are well-suited for this type of process by determining the plant-availability of the nickel. By extracting the nickel sequentially with increasing severity it is possible to determine the chemical distribution, or fractionation, of nickel in a soil. One fraction is already suspected to be plant-available and correlates very well with the results of a previous plant-availability study. A calcareous Millville silt loam which was artificially contaminated with nickel was compared to a serpentine soil which is naturally high in nickel. It was discovered that 39% of the nickel in the silt loam was in a readily plant-available fraction as opposed to only 2% in the serpentine soil.
Recommended Citation
Henrie, Jason, "Plant-Availability Fractionation of Nickel for Bioremediation" (1998). Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects. 876.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/honors/876
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Faculty Mentor
Paul V. Fevol
Departmental Honors Advisor
John F. Hulbad