BCR-143R - Sewage sludge amended soil

A convenient sewage sludge amended soil was found at the Agricultural Research Station, Hagen (Germany). Portions of sewage sludge have been  given to the  soil  for approximately 10 years with the aim of field  scale carryover experiments of metals to crops. The soils showed  sufficient similarity to the earlier BCR CRM 143.  With regard  to critical quantities such as the Al₂O₃, Fe₂O₃ and TiO₂ content the new  soil meets well the composition of  the the former BCR CRM 143. The C mass fraction is around 30 mg/g.

The sludge amended soil material was collected by shovelling from the surface to  a depth of 7-13 cm, avoiding stones, plant litter or wood pieces. The material was  air dried in a layer of about 5 cm  and frequently mixed to avoid fungus development. It was heat sterilised and passed through a 2 mm sieve discarding the fraction  > 2 mm.  About 80 kg was packed in cleaned polyethylene bags for  shipment to the JRC-Ispra where further treatment took place. The further processing consisted of grinding in a hammer mill with large openings (about 2 mm), sieving (< 90 pm) and blending of that  fraction for 10 days in a special blending drum until a sufficiently homogeneous material with particle size < 90 pm was obtained. It was bottled in 50 g portions in clean brown glass bottles provided with a PTFE ball for re-homogenisation and closed with a plastic insert and screw cap.

keywords: environmental material , soil/sediment , biosolids ,  trace elements , heavy metals, fractionation analysis , aqua regia soluble fraction