Evaluation of several phosphate amendments on rare earth element concentrations in rice plant and soil solution by X-ray diffraction

Abstract The exploitation and smelting of rare earth resources lead to serious pollution of rare earth elements (REEs) in farmland around mining area. The influence of four kinds of phosphate amendments—phosphate rock (PR), superphosphate (SSP), bone char (BC), and calcium magnesium phosphate (CMP)—on the bioavailability of REEs and the uptake and accumulation of 15 types of REE in rice were conducted in this study. Soil solutions were collected at tillering stage, heading stage and maturing stage, and rice was harvested at maturing stage. The mechanism of phosphate amendments reducing the bioavailability of REEs was studied by X-Ray diffraction and ICP-MS. PR treatment inhibited rice growth, but SSP, BC and CMP treatments all promoted rice growth, improved biomass of roots, shoots and grains, and promoted the uptake of phosphorous in rice. When compared with the CK, SSP, BC and CMP reduced the total REE concentrations in rice roots by 82.2%, 67.9% and 89.6%, shoots by 75.4%, 40.1% and 65.5%, grains by 23.8%, 29.0% and 29.3%, respectively. PR, SSP, BC and CMP significantly reduced the concentrations of REEs in the soil solution at three stages of rice growth. Analytic results of X-ray diffraction shows that adding PR, SSP, BC and CMP can lead to the formation of rare earth phosphate in the soil, thus reduce the activity of the REEs in the soil. Because SSP releases H+ during its dissolution, which has the risk of activating REEs in soil, CMP and BC are potential materials for remediation of REE-contaminated soil.