Chapter 6

THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

OF BIOSOLIDS' LAND APPLICATION

Silvana Irene Torri1, and Marisol Natalia Cabrera2

*

1
Facultad de Agronoma, Universidad de Buenos Aires,
Ciudad Autnoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina
2
Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires,
Ciudad Autnoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina

ABSTRACT
Increasing urbanization and industrialization have resulted in a
dramatic increase in the volume of wastes generated worldwide. The
treatment of wastewater results in large amounts of municipal treated
sewage sludge, or biosolids. Sludge has traditionally been disposed
through ocean-dumping, landfilling, or incineration. But due to
increasingly stringent environmental regulations, these disposal methods
are being phased out. With increasing populations worldwide, biosolids
production is likely to continue to increase in a near future. The safe
disposal of biosolids is a major environmental challenge. Land
application of biosolids is largely considered the best option of disposal
because it offers the possibility of recycling plant nutrients, provides

*
torri@agro.uba.ar.
How to cite this book Chapter: Torri S, Cabrera M. 2017. Environmental impact of biosolids
land application. In: Organic Waste: Management Strategies, Environmental Impact and
Emerging Regulations, Editor: M Collins, Nova Science Publishers, Inc., Hauppauge, NY 11788,
ISBN: 978-1-53610-936-8, 185-208, 226 pp
2

organic material, improves soils chemical and physical properties and

enhances crop yields. The use of biosolids is increasingly being
considered as a feasible and technical solution to reverse degraded and
less productive lands, and to promote the reestablishment of a vegetative
cover. However, benefits have to be carefully weighed against potential
deleterious effects related to non-point source pollution. Environmental
risks include increased potentially trace elements (PTE) input, leaching of
nitrogen (N) in subsurface drainage and groundwater, contamination of
surface water with soluble and particulate phosphorus (P), vector
attraction, and reduced air quality by emission of volatile organic
compounds, among others. Most countries regulate concentrations of
PTE and pathogens in biosolids and mandate maximum permissible
loading rates into soil to manage contaminants. Nevertheless, concerns
associated with adverse environmental effects due to land application of
biosolids continue. This chapter investigates the environmental impact of
biosolids land application related to soil properties.

INTRODUCTION
Increasing urbanization and industrialization have resulted in a dramatic
increase in the volume of wastes generated worldwide. Sewage sludge results
from the accumulation of solids from chemical coagulation, flocculation and
sedimentation during wastewater treatment. The term sludge is nowadays used
to refer to untreated primary and secondary organic solids. In the last decades,
the production of sewage sludge has worldwide increased. Past disposal
practices commonly included land filling or ocean dumping, but due to
increasingly stringent environmental regulations, these disposal methods are
being phased out. On the other hand, people are concerned about
environmental protection more than ever and relative legislation and
regulation are becoming more critical. Incineration is a feasible means of
reducing sewage sludges volume and converting this waste in a practically
inert, odorless and sterile ash. Technologies have been developed to make use
of the resulting ash, by replacing part of the raw material in brick
manufacturing (Hara, Mino 2008; Liew et al., 2004), cement production
(Tomita et al., 2006) and glazed tiles (Lin et al., 2005), among others.
However, sludge contains organic carbon together with macro and
micronutrients, and the use of sludge in the manufacture of construction
materials limits the potential recycling of these elements.
The term biosolids was officially recognized in 1991 by the Water
Environment Federation (WEF), and refers to the organic solids that have
 The Environmental Impact of Biosolids' Land Application 3

received a biological stabilization treatment at a municipal wastewater

treatment plant, to make a distinction from other types of sludges. To be
considered biosolids, sewage sludge has to be treated and stabilized to reduce
odor, pathogen content and vector attraction. Biosolids treatment may include
one or a combination of i) biological processes (anaerobic/aerobic digestion,
composting), ii) chemical processes (lime treatment), and/or iii) physical
processes (pasteurization, thermal hydrolysis, thermal drying, air/solar drying).
Depending on the extent of pathogen removal achieved, biosolids are usually
classified as biosolids Class A or biosolids Class B.
In the last years, attention has shifted to the beneficial use of biosolids.
Land application of biosolids is an economically attractive management
strategy, for it contains a high concentration of organic matter, which can
ameliorate soil quality. This option also ensures that major biosolids-borne
plant nutrients (i.e., nitrogen. phosphorus, potassium, sulphur, copper, zinc)
are recycled (EC, 2008). Benefits also extend to reduction in soil erosion, land
restoration and enrichment of forestry land. However, a variety of undesired
compounds may also be found in biosolids, which could have adverse effects
on the environment such as potentially toxic trace elements (PTE)
accumulation, transfer of these contaminants through the food chain or
potential for surface water/groundwater contamination, among others (Sidhu,
Toze 2009; Stietiya, Wang 2011). Therefore, the benefits from biosolids land
application have to be carefully weighed against its potential deleterious
effects. The purpose of this chapter is to review the available information of
biosolids land application on soil fertility and its possible effects on the
environment.

EFFECTS OF BIOSOLIDS APPLICATION ON

SOIL PROPERTIES
Organic Matter

Soil organic matter (SOM) is generally considered the single most

important property affecting soil quality and functioning (Gregorich et al.,
1994). Numerous studies have indicated that the use of biosolids as a source of
organic matter to agricultural or degraded lands improves the chemical and
physical properties of soils, decreasing bulk density, increasing pore size, soil
aeration and root penetrability, water holding capacity and biological
4

properties, resulting in an increase in crop yields (Tejada, Gonzalez 2007;

Antonious et al., 2010; Gilbert et al., 2011).
Biosolids is typically made up of 40 - 70% organic matter. This organic
fraction has been identified as a mixture of fatty acids, steroids, proteins,
carbohydrates, lignin, amino acids, sugars, celluloses and humic material
(Torri, Alberti 2009). Organic carbon added through biosolids consists of two
fractions of different degree of biodegradability: a labile fraction (53-71%)
that mineralizes quickly and a resistant fraction (28.5-45.4%), apparently not
available to soil microorganisms, that remains in the soil after biosolids
application (Torri et al., 2003; Antoniadis et al., 2008). Although carbon
mineralization from organic amendments has been shown to be more rapid in
soils with low compared with high clay content (Merckx et al., 1985), results
suggest that recently introduced biosolids-borne organic carbon (OC) may be
located in large pores and less entangled in aggregates than native soil organic
matter (Torri et al., 2003). On the other hand, Thomsen et al. (1999) reported
that the turnover of organic matter in differently textured soils was better
explained by soil moisture parameters than by soil texture.
When biosolids are land applied repeatedly and/or at high rates, a
substantial increase in soil organic matter content is observed (Moffet et al.,
2005; Sloan et al., 2016). This effect is particularly pronounced on degraded
soils (Garcia-Orenes et al., 2005). Long and short term observations have
demonstrated that biosolids amended soils accumulate a significantly higher
amount of OC compared to mineral fertilized soils (Tian et al., 2009).
Repeated land application of biosolids provide long-term benefits by
increasing soil organic matter which, in turn, improves soil chemical and
biological fertility, accomplished by the production of more biomass (Cogger
et al., 2013; Wiseman et al., 2012). In this way, there is a net transfer of
atmospheric dioxide (CO2) into the soil carbon pool through the humification
of crop residues, resulting in net soil carbon sequestration (Torri, Lavado
2011; Torri et al., 2014), reducing greenhouse gases emission (Haynes et al.,
2009).
Significant concern over the occurrence of trace organic contaminants in
biosolids has risen in recent years (Citulski, Farahbakhsh 2010; Clarke, Smith
2011; Mohapatra et al., 2016). The range of persistent organic pollutants
(POPs) reported to be present in biosolids is extensive and diverse, and may
include pharmaceutical, personal care products, endocrine-disrupting
compounds, pesticides, industrial chemicals, hormones, and other organic
pollutants that are ubiquitous in sewage and other environmental samples
(Sabourin et al., 2012; Luo et al., 2014). Contrary to most organic compounds
 The Environmental Impact of Biosolids' Land Application 5

present in other organic amendments, POPs exhibit a high environmental

persistence, mainly due to their chemical stability, relatively low volatility and
high dielectric constant. When POPs enter the soil environment, there is an
initial fast adsorption onto the hydrophobic SOM surfaces probably by
covalent linkages (Harrison et al., 2006). As the time of contact with soil
increases, there is a decrease in chemical and biological availability of
contaminants, a process known as ageing (Hatzinger, Alexander 1995). It is
believed that during aging, sorbed organic molecules slowly move into sites
within the soil matrix (mineral or organic matter fractions) and become
entrapped within nano- and micropores that are not accessible by even the
smallest microorganisms (Semple et al., 2003). Many laboratory studies
confirm the lesser availability of POPs to soil microorganisms of aged than
unaged conditions in highly dissimilar soils (Alexander 2000).
The fate of POPs in the environment and their effects on biotic matrices
has been object of intensive research in the last years, and there is still an open
debate on the impact of the presence of these compounds in soils and water.
Nonetheless, most studies reveal that the risk of adverse effects of biosolids-
borne organic contaminants in the different trophic levels or in human health is
low or very low, due to their small concentration (enhanced by dilution
effects) and its low-toxic profile (Hernando et al., 2006; Dubroca et al., 2009;
Clarke, Cummins 2015).

Macronutrient Content and Release

The addition of biosolids to agricultural land was reported to increase the

growth and production of crop plants and pastures, usually exceeding that of
well-managed fertilized controls (Torri, Lavado 2009 a; Athamenh et al.,
2015; Pawlett et al., 2015; Corra, da Silva 2016). This rise in productivity is
attributed to the increase in water holding capacity and nutrient availability to
plants. Biosolids are a source of plant nutrients, including nitrogen (N),
phosphorus (P), sulphur (S), magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca) and
micronutrients such as copper (Cu), zinc (Zn) and boron (B). Nutrient content
in biosolids depends on the untreated water source, chemicals used in the
wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) in pre- or post-treatment, or types of
unit operations used, and was reported to be in the range of 1-210 g N kg1, 1-
150 g P kg1, 1-65 g K kg1, 5-170 g Ca kg1, 2-94.5 g Mg kg1 (Solis-Mejia et
al., 2012).
6

Nitrogen
For regulatory and practical reasons, biosolids loading rates have been
typically determined by estimating the amount of plant available N released by
biosolids. Low levels of biosolids-borne N may lead to economic loss through
yield reduction, whereas a high N level may increases the risk of nitrate
leaching into groundwater.
Nitrogen supplied by biosolids is mainly present as organic forms, often
quoted between 50 - 80% (Sommers, 1977). However, these organic forms are
not immediately available to plants. The conversion of organic nitrogen into
plant available forms (ammonium NH4+ or nitrate ions NO3) is mediated by
heterotrophic soil microorganisms (Pierzynski et al., 2005). Nitrogen
mineralization is the process by which organic N is first released as NH4+ ions,
which may be directly absorbed by plant roots or oxidised by aerobic,
nitrifying bacteria to nitrite ions (NO2). Nitrite ultimately oxidises to nitrate
ions (NO3), which are easily absorbed by plant roots (Pierzynski et al., 2005).
The proportion of organic N in biosolids that becomes plant available is
referred to as the mineralizable fraction. For agronomic and environmental
purposes, it is often assumed that, after a single application, 20% of biosolids
organic-N is mineralized in the first year, 10% in the second, and 5% in the
third year (USEPA, 1995). However, the available fraction of organic N in
biosolids may be influenced by soil properties, and environmental conditions.
On the other hand, many authors reported that total N content and the release
of mineralized N in biosolids amended soil may be significantly influenced by
the type of sewage sludge treatment process, dewatering and/or storage (Hseu,
Huang 2005; Rouch et al., 2011; Al-Dhumri et al., 2013; Rigby et al., 2016).
Nitrogen may be lost from biosolids-amended soil by leaching, runoff or
gaseous emissions. Leaching of N mainly occurs as NO3, because most soils
have a low capacity to retain anions. On the contrary, NH4+ is less mobile
because it is adsorbed onto negatively charged soil components. Leaching of
NO3 to groundwater is a major cause of groundwater contamination
(Addiscott, 2005). This process is a function of the combination of many soil
and environmental factors, including N application rates and timing, soil
properties and mineralogy, rainfall, irrigation, depth of the aquifer and plants.
In general, coarse-textured soils have lower water holding capacities than fine-
textured soils, so the vertical movement of nitrates is more likely in sandy soils
(Corra et al., 2006). The presence of plants with a deep root system reduces N
leaching due to N uptake and evapotranspiration (Rigby et al., 2016). On the
 The Environmental Impact of Biosolids' Land Application 7

other hand, soluble and particulate forms of N may be lost by wind or water
erosion or run-off. These looses may occur when the rate of precipitation
exceeds soil infiltration capacity (Pierzynski et al., 2005). This is also
dependent upon factors such as topography, soil physical and chemical
properties and crop cover (Ojeda et al., 2006). Hence, local investigation of N
dynamics in biosolids-amended soils is a key factor to determine appropriate
application rates and best management practices for each region.

Phosphorus
Biosolids-borne P may be found in both soluble and insoluble organic and
inorganic P compounds (Tian et al., 2012). Inorganic P is the predominant
form of P in biosolids, representing 70 to 90% of total P (O'Connor et al.,
2004; He et al., 2010). As said above, in most legislation, annual application
rates of biosolids are determined by crop N requirements in order to prevent N
leaching to groundwater (Al-Dhumri et al., 2013; Corra et al., 2012).
However, the relatively low N/P ratio of biosolids has led to a significant over-
application of P at the N-based rate. As the amounts of P applied often exceed
crop removal, more than 95% of biosolids-borne P remains in soils (Corra,
2004).
Phosphorus availability in biosolids is strongly influenced by the
wastewater treatment process used (White et al., 2010; Torri et al., 2016).
Biosolids treatment with high Al and/or Fe doses results in biosolids having
low available P concentrations, with Fe and Al phosphates as dominant P
forms (Shober, Sims 2007). Taking into account that the solubility kinetics of
these phosphate minerals is extremely slow, it is unlikely that, once formed,
these minerals would readily release P into the soil solution (Strawn et al.,
2015). In fact, P in biosolids treated with Al and Fe was found to be less
soluble than P in untreated biosolids or commercial fertilizers (Kyle,
McClintock 1995). Addition of lime was reported to increase biosolids pH and
decrease the solubility of P by the formation of recalcitrant Ca-phosphate
minerals (Islas-Espinoza et al., 2014). Heat-dried biosolids were reported to
have the lowest P availability of all WWT processes, whereas biosolids
obtained by biological P removal exhibit both elevated total P and water-
extractable P (Penn, Sims, 2002; Brandt et al., 2004).
The avalability of biosolids-borne P exerts a major influence on the
potential for off-site P migration at land application sites. Past research has
shown that soils that are more saturated with P have less capacity to retain
added P and may thus increase the more labile forms of soil P, with the risk of
P loss in runoff or by leaching (Hooda et al., 2000; Pautler, Sims 2000). The
8

problem arises when runoff waters or subsurface flows contain

environmentally unacceptable contents of dissolved P forms, or when highly
P-enriched soil particles are eroded into water bodies (Chowdhury et al.,
2017). Diffuse P pollution is directly associated with the development of water
body eutrophication in agricultural ecosystems (Withers, Jarvie 2008; Quinton
et al., 2010). Soluble P as low as 0.02 mg L-1 is sufficient to induce water body
eutrophication (Sharpley, Rekolainen 1997). In sensitive scenarios, Fe or Al-
treated biosolids reduce the risk of P transport. On the other hand, if runoff P
is not a major concern and biosolids are primarily applied to provide available
P to crops, the standard biological P removal process or a process that involves
the addition of lime instead of Fe and Al oxides may be adequate. The fate of
biosolids borne P in biosolids amended soils was reviewed by Torri et al.
(2016).

Potentially Toxic Elements

The presence of biosolids-borne potentially toxic elements (PTE) such as
arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), chromium (Cr), lead (Pb), mercury
(Hg), nickel (Ni), and zinc (Zn) is the most critical long-term hazard when
biosolids is land applied. Some of these elements have been reported to be
essential to all plant species (micronutrients), and some others are known to
have stimulating effects on plant growth, although their functions have not
been recognized yet (Asher 1991; Barker, Pilbeam 2007; Torri et al., 2011).
Elevated levels of PTEs in agricultural soils may adversely affect soils
quality, depress plant yields or degrade the quality of food or other goods
produced. They may also represent an ecological and human health risk if they
enter the food chain or leach into ground waters (Alloway 1995).
Biosolids contain varying concentrations of PTE as a result of drainage
waters, business effluents (such as car washes, dental uses, among others),
atmospheric deposition, traffic related emissions (asphalt wear, brake linings,
vehicle exhausts, tires, petrol/oil leakage) and household effluents (Torri,
Lavado 2008 a,b). These elements may be transported into the sewage system
to end in the wastewater treatment plant and into biosolids (Bergback et al.,
2001). Taking into account the great variability in PTE inputs, range and
media concentrations of PTE encountered in biosolids samples are shown in
Table 1.
Unlike the majority of organic compounds, PTE do not undergo microbial
or chemical degradation (Adriano 2003). These elements persist in the
environment for a long time after their introduction and accumulate in soils,
which are usually their final sink (Raymond, Okieimen 2011). When PTEs are
 The Environmental Impact of Biosolids' Land Application 9

introduced into the soil, they may be subjected to a series of chemical and
biochemical processes, such as adsorption/desorption, precipitation/
dissolution, complexation/dissociation, and oxidation/reduction (Violante et
al., 2010). Not all the processes are equally important for each element. Soil
physical-chemical properties such as pH, cation exchange capacity (CEC),
organic matter content, mineralogy and the nature and amount of the trace
element are also likely to assume great importance in determining PTE
behavior in biosolids amended soils, especially at low biosolids application
rates (Shaheen et al., 2014; Urasa, Mwebi 2011). It has been postulated that, at
very high application rates, biosolids properties dominate PTE chemistry and
bioavailability in the short to medium term (Zufiaurre et al., 1998). With time,
it is thought that biosolids properties will have progressively less influence
over PTE behavior and that soil characteristics will ultimately control
speciation (Parkpain et al., 1998; Smith, 1996).

Table 1. Element content in dry biosolids (mg kg-1)

Element Range in dry biosolids (mg kg-1) Media (mg kg-1)

arsenic 1.1 23 10
cadmium 1 3410 10
chromium 1 - 99000 500
cobalt 11.3 - 2490 30
copper 84 - 17000 800
iron 1000 - 154000 17000
lead 13 - 26000 500
manganese 32 - 9870 260
mercury 0.6 - 56 6
molybdenum 0.1 2.14 4
nickel 2 - 5300 80
selenium 1.7 17.25 5
tin 2.6 - 329 14
zinc 101 - 49000 1700

Biosolids guidelines and regulations have been developed to regulate total

doses for land applications. These are generally based on the maximum
allowable PTE concentration limits (mg kg-1 dry weight) and cumulative
loading rates (MAFF, 1993; NSW EPA, 1997; USEPA, 1997, Epstein 2003
and EU, 2000). But total concentrations of PTE in soils are not necessarily a
good indicator of potential PTE toxicity. Recently, some countries have begun
to introduce the concept of bioavailability in their regulations regarding
environmental protection. Quite a lot of work has been done to find a method
10

that can reliably estimate PTEs chemical forms in soils, bioavailability,

biological uptake, and eco-toxicological effects on the soil biota in biosolids
amended soils. The most important methods include: single batch extraction of
soil samples with salt solutions (Adriano, Weber 2001); sequential extraction
with increasingly strong extractants designed to dissolve metals bound to
different solid phases (Pierzynski 1998, McGrath, Cegarra 1992); and column
leaching experiments (Paramasivam et al., 2006).
Sequential extraction methods have been widely used in an attempt to
quantitatively estimate PTEs chemical forms in soils. In this technique, the
soil is subjected to a series of chemical reagents or extractants of increasing
reactivity, with phytoavailability and mobility of PTE decreasing in the order
of the sequential extraction step. The amount of PTE extracted from the more
bioavailable fractions gives an idea of the size of the pool that might be
depleted by a plant during the growing period. In most protocols, PTE are
divided into the following physicochemical forms: (1) simple or complexed
ions in solution and exchangeable ions; (2) bound to organic matter; (3) bound
to carbonates; (4) bound to iron and manganese oxides and hydroxides; and (5)
in the mineral lattice of silicates or residual fraction (McLaren, Crawford
1973; Tessier et al., 1979; Emmerich et al., 1982; Sims, Kline 1991; Morabito
1995). The terms of the fractions are more likely to be operationally, rather
than chemically defined. A wide range of reagents have been proposed to
establish empirical relations between plant uptake and PTE concentration in
soils (McLaughlin et al., 2000b).
At present, there is no analytical method that can universally and
quantitatively assess plant PTE uptake. The reasons for this includes the
presence of different components in each particular soil, diverse chemical
forms comprising the available pool of PTE, intrinsic limitations of the
extracting reagent, differences between plant species, variations in the ability
of the plant to absorb PTEs at different growth stages, the ability of plants to
transfer PTEs from roots to different aereal tissues as well as the synergism or
antagonism between some PTE (McLaughlin et al., 2000).
At very high rates of biosolids application, phytotoxicity due to biosolids-
borne PTE are likely to occur (Juste, Mench 1992; Berti, Jacobs 1996). On the
contrary, at agronomically biosolids application rates (between 28 Mg ha-1),
PTE do not normally represent a limitation to plant growth. There are a
number of reasons for this, including PTE sorption on soil oxides and organic
matter (from soil or biosolids), the formation of insoluble inorganic salts, and
antagonistic effects of between biosolids-borne PTE (Torri, Lavado 2009 b).
For instance, P tends to increase Cd concentration and Cd:Zn ratio and
 The Environmental Impact of Biosolids' Land Application 11

decrease Zn concentration in plant tissue and seed; and Zn is competitive with

Ca, Cu and Ni (Chaney et al., 2000; Grant et al., 2010). Many studies reported
that biosolids-derived PTE are generally less available for plant uptake than
the more mobile PTE salt impurities found in commercial fertilisers (Kidd et
al., 2007).
Single or repeated applications of biosolids may lead to an increase in
PTE concentration in different soil fractions over time due to the
decomposition of less soluble forms of PTE initially present in biosolids.
Some authors reported that the increase in PTE availability did not lead to
metal accumulation in plants (Gaskin et al., 2003). Other authors reported that
the amount of PTE taken up by plants was related to the type of crop and the
chemistry of each metal. For example, an elevated concentration of Zn but not
of Cu was reported in the leaves of plants grown on biosolid amended soils
(Granato et al., 2004; Codling 2014). Nonetheless, although plant PTE
concentrations generally increase with increasing biosolids rates,
concentrations in plant tissues often exhibit a plateau response at high
loadings. These results were reported for wheat, maize, and other plant species
(Barbarick et al., 1995; Logan et al., 1997, Sukkariyah et al., 2005). On the
other hand, the low phytotoxic effect of biosolids borne PTE has been
explained by the soilplant barrier concept (Basta et al., 2005). This concept
assumes that the mobility of PTE is influenced by soil or plant barriers that
may limit transmission of these elements through the food chain either due to
soil chemical processes that limit solubility (soil barrier) or by plant
senescence due to phytotoxicity (plant barrier).
Potentially trace elements were always considered relatively immobile in
soils. In fact, most soil profile studies from short- and long-term sludge
applications concluded that biosolids-borne PTEs were largely retained in the
topsoil or the zone of biosolids incorporation (Sukkariyah et al., 2005). These
results were consistent with later research, which did not show significant
increases in total PTEs concentrations below 30-cm depth in soil profiles
despite the differences in biosolids application methods or soil properties (Su
et al., 2008; Ukwatta, Mohajerani 2016). Other authors reported a virtual
immobilization of PTE by the soil matrix through ltration, complexation, and
chemisorption processes (Haering et al., 2000; Brown et al., 2002; Basta et al.,
2005). However, in recent years, there has been concern that biosolids borne
PTEs might be more mobile in soil than previously thought. McBride et al.
(1997) and Richards et al. (1998) indicated that downward mobility might
occur in the field without a substantial increase in PTEs concentrations in the
subsoil. Later, other authors suggested that high levels of PTE might be
12

reaching groundwaters (Ashworth, Alloway 2004; Saiers, Ryan 2006; Miller,

Karathanasis 2014). In leaching tests, Margu et al. (2016) reported that the
percentage of released PTEs in comparison with soil total content was quite
low, (<10%). This vertical movement was explained by complexation
reactions of PTEs with mobile biosolid colloid particles that migrate through
soil macropores transporting PTEs to greater soil depths (Karathanasis et al.,
2007, Miller et al., 2011). The formation of soluble organic matterPTE
complexes of high stability in soil solution has been found to reduce PTE
adsorption to solid soil phases (Wong et al., 2007). The downward movement
of PTE in biosolids amended soils was reviewed by Torri and Corra (2012).

CONCLUSION
Land application of biosolids is a beneficial way to recycle organic matter,
improving the chemical, physical and biological properties of soils, resulting
in an increase in crop yields. Biosolids loading rates have been typically
determined by estimating the amount of plant available N released by
biosolids. Although the relatively low N/P ratio of biosolids has led to a
significant over-application of P at the N-based rate, P solubility and mobility
is governed by the wastewater treatment plants processes, and may not be of
major environmental concern. The presence of biosolids-borne potentially
toxic elements is the most critical long-term hazard when biosolids are land
applied. Although the availability of PTEs has been reported to decrease over
time, many studies indicate that a small portion of PTEs is dissolved in the soil
solution and may move to subsoil horizons. However, research suggests that
environmental risks are minimal under current biosolids regulations.

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14

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16

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18

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 The Environmental Impact of Biosolids' Land Application 21

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22

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Analyst 123: 255259.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Name: Silvana Irene Torri

Affiliation: Department of Natural Resources and Environment, School of

Agriculture, University of Buenos Aires.

Education: Graduate in Chemistry (FCEyN, University of Buenos Aires),

holding MSci degree in the field of Soil Science. Actually finishing a PhD.

e mail address: torri@agro.uba.ar.

Research and Professional Experience: Her research program mainly

focuses on dynamics of potentially toxic elements in the soil-plant system,
land application of organic residues and bioremediation of contaminated soils.
 The Environmental Impact of Biosolids' Land Application 23

She is also involved in the supervision of pre and post graduate students
research. She acts as the Lead Editor in two scientific Journals, and she acts as
a reviewer in 18 academic Journals.

Publications from the Last 3 Years:

Book Chapters:
Torri S, Cabrera M, Torres- Duggan. 2013. Plants response to high
soil Zn availability. Feasibility of biotechnological improvement. En:
Biotechnologica lTechniques of Stress in Plants, Editor: M. Miransari,
Stadium Press LLC USA, ISBN: 1-62699-031-X, 101-118.
Torri S. 2014. Sustainable agriculture in the Pampas region,
Argentina. En: Sustainability behind Sustainability, editor: A Zorpas.
Nova Science Publishers, Inc., Hauppauge, NY 11788, ISBN 978-1-
63321-595-5 (ebook) 297-318. 408 p.
Torri S, Urricariet A.S, Lavado R. 2015. Micronutrientes. En:
Fertilidad de suelos y fertilizacin de cultivos. Garca F y Echeverra
H. Ediciones INTA, Balcarce, ISBN 978-987-521-565-8, 357-377.
908.

Peer reviewed Journals

Torri S.I., Corra R.S., Renella G. 2014. Soil carbon sequestration
resulting from biosolids application, Applied and Environmental Soil
Science (ISSN: 1687-7667), Volume 2014 (2014), Article ID 821768,
9 pages. doi:10.1155/2014/821768.
Torri S.I., Corra R.S. Renella G., Vadecantos A., Perelomov L. 2014.
Biosolids Soil Application: Agronomic and Environmental
Implications 2013, Applied and Environmental Soil Science, Article
ID 314730, 3 pages. doi:10.1155/2014/314730. ISSN: 1687-7667.
Torri S.I., Corra R.S. Renella G., Vadecantos A., Perelomov L. 2015.
Biosolids Soil Application: Agronomic and Environmental
Implications 2014, Applied and Environmental Soil Science, Vo.
2015, Article ID 627819, 2 pages. ISSN: 1687-7667.
Torri S.I., Corra R.S., Renella G. 2016. Biosolids application to
agricultural land: a contribution to global phosphorus recycle,
24

Pedosphere 27(1): 116, doi:10.1016/S1002-0160(15)60106-0, ISSN

1002-0160/CN 32-1315/P
Torri S.I., Cabrera M.N., Alberti, C. 2016. Actividad microbiana
durante la bioestimulacin de un suelo contaminado con
hidrocarburos aromticos policclicos. Revista Internacional de
Contaminacin Ambiental, accepted.

KD