Changes in particulate and mineral-associated organic carbon with land use in contrasting soils

Soil organic carbon(SOC)is the largest terrestrial carbon(C)stock,and the capacity of soils to preserve organic C(OC)varies with many factors,including land use,soil type,and soil depth.We investigated the effect of land use change on soil particulate organic matter(POM)and mineral-associated organic matter(MOM).Surface(0–10 cm)and subsurface(60–70 cm)samples were collected from paired sites(native and cropped)of four contrasting soils.Bulk soils were separated into POM and MOM fractions,which were analyzed for mineralogy,OC,nitrogen,isotopic signatures,and14C.The POM fractions of surface soils were relatively unaffected by land use change,possibly because of the continuous input of crop residues,whereas the POM fractions in corresponding subsurface soils lost more OC.In surface soils,MOM fractions dominated by the oxides of iron and aluminum(oxide-OM)lost more OC than those dominated by phyllosilicates and quartz,which was attributed to diverse organic matter(OM)input and the extent of OC saturation limit of soils.In contrast,oxide-OM fractions were less affected than the other two MOM fractions in the subsurface soils,possibly due to OC protection via organo-mineral associations.The deviations in isotopic signature(linked with vegetation)across the fractions suggested that fresh crop residues constituted the bulk of OM in surface soils(supported by greater14C).Increased isotopic signatures and lower14C in subsurface MOM fractions suggested the association of more microbially processed,aged OC with oxide-OM fractions than with the other MOM fractions.The results reveal that the quantity and quality of OC after land use change is influenced by the nature of C input in surface soils and by mineral-organic association in subsurface soils.

Rapid recovery of rare earth elements in industrial wastewater by CuFe_2O_4 synthesized from Cu sludge

This study systematically evaluates the recovery of rare earth elements（REEs） from aqueous solution and industrial wastewater using magnetic nanoparticles CuFe2O4. The industrially manufactured CuFe2O4 displays a nonlinear isotherm for REEs adsorption, suggesting limiting binding sites on the CuFe2O4 surface. The recovery of REEs increases significantly from 0.1% to 99.99% with increasing pH（2.29-8.15）. At room temperature, the maxima recovery rates of Nd, La, and Ce are observed to be in a high capacity of 51.02, 42.02, and 40.16 mg/g, respectively. No significant attenuation of REE adsorption is observed with increasing NaCl concentration from 0.001 to 1.0 mol/L, showing high selectivity of REEs even in such high NaCl concentration matrix. In addition, desorption efficiency increases with the increasing concentration of HNO3 in the range of 0.005-0.05 mol/L. When HNO3 concentration is over 0.05 mol/L, the desorption efficiency can reach almost 100% in each batch experiment. Importantly, our results show that REEs can be sorbed and recycled from liquid crystal display（LCD） polishing wastewater, suggesting that CuFe2O4 may be a good candidate in the efficient and rapid recovery of REEs from industrial wastewater.