Comparative Chemical Analysis of Soil Contamination Using Hyperaccumulators

Authors:

• Students:
  • Michael Albrecht
  • Shams Alshabani
  • Karolina Bobek
  • Emily Formella
  • Andrew Handzel
  • Liam Horan
  • Evan Littmann
  • Elisabeth Nacino
  • Maria Olegario
• Teachers:
  • William Kane
  • Karen Murphy
• Mentors:
  • Antonio Lanzirotti (University of Chicago, Center for Advanced Radiation Sources)
  • Matthew Newville (University of Chicago, Center for Advanced Radiation Sources)

Advanced Photon Source Sector 13: GSECARS

The research team chose this project because gardening became a common hobby during the beginning of the pandemic, and wanted to see if EPA-approved lumber treated with copper and other metal compounds was entirely safe or if there were risks associated with its use. The research team spoke to hardware store employees and discovered that lumber treated with micronized copper azole and western red cedar were the most common types of lumber bought for gardening.

The most popular type of lumber used by the common gardener was reported t be the treated lumber because it was cheaper, more weather/insect resistant, and longer-lasting compared to untreated lumber. Since 2003, the EPA made an agreement with preservative manufacturers to stop the production of CCA-treated wood. At this time the manufacturers started using micronized copper azole (CBA) and various other copper compounds to treat lumber. Even though these copper species are considered less toxic than CCA, they may still pose health risks. It is known that exposure at high concentrations of copper can induce abdominal pain, hematemesis, melena, jaundice, anorexia, severe thirst, diarrhea, vomiting, altered mentation, headache, coma, tachycardia, depression, fatigue, irritability, excitation, and difficulty focusing.

At what exposure levels this is of concern is unclear. Although the amount of copper released by the treated wood to soil is likely low, some edible plants have the potential to hyperaccumulate Cu. We proposed to grow hyper accumulating plants in CBA contaminated soil in order to identify if these plants would absorb more copper or other heavy metals more readily. The research team hypothesized that if these plants were grown in planters made of treated lumber that they would show an increase in absorption of copper.

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