Influence of carbon-containing and mineral sorbents on the toxicity of soil contaminated with benzo[a]pyrene during phytotesting

Benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) is a member of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons known for high persistency and toxicity. Technologies of BaP sorption through solid matrixes have received relatively more attention. The present study was devoted to the phytotesting investigations of two different groups of sorbents, such as carbonaceous, including biochar and granulated activated carbon (GAC), and mineral, including tripoli and diatomite. Evaluation of the BaP removing efficiency was carried out using the phytotesting method with spring barley in Haplic Chernozem contaminated with different levels of contamination (200 and 400 μg kg −1 BaP). The sorbents’ efficiency for BaP remediation was estimated in the sorbents doses from 0.5 to 2.5% per kg of soil. It was shown that biochar and GAC decreased the soil toxicity class to a greater extent than mineral sorbents ones. The effect intensified with an increase in applying sorbents doses. The optimal dose of carbonaceous sorbents into the soil contaminated with 200 µg kg −1 was 1%, decreasing the BaP content up 57–59% in the soil. Simultaneously, the optimal dose of the mineral sorbents was found to be 1.5%, which decreased the BaP content in the soil up 41–48%. Increasing the BaP contamination level up to 400 µg kg −1 showed the necessity of a sorbent dose increasing. In these conditions, among all applied sorbents, only 2% GAC could reduce the soil toxicity class to the normal level up to 0.91–1.10. It was shown that BaP tended to migrate from the soil to the roots and further into the vegetative part of barley.