Aromatic Arsenical Additives (AAAs) in the Soil Environment: Detection, Environmental Behaviors, Toxicities, and Remediation

Due to the extensive application of aromatic arsenical additives (AAAs) in the animal feeding industry worldwide, soil contamination by AAAs has attracted great interests recently. This paper comprehensively reviewed the recent advances in the detection, environmental behaviors, toxicities, and remediation for AAAs in soil system. As of now, HPLC-ICP-MS and HPLC-ESI-MS/MS are the most predominent techniques used to separate and determine the species and concentrations of AAAs as well as their metabolites. Sorption and biotic transformation are the two main processes in affecting the fate of AAAs in soil, but few works have focused on their aerobic degradation, plant accumulation, and transformation mechanisms. Arsenic is highly toxic, and the toxicity of arsenic species ranked in the order of MMA(III) (monomethylarsonic acid) > iAs(III) > iAs(V) > organic As. However, the combined toxicity of different arsenic species to soil organisms and their potential human risk should be emphasized in the future. It has been found that Fe-and/or Al-containing drinking-water treatment residuals are promising materials to immobilize arsenic in AAAs polluted sites, but to reduce AAAs application in animal feeding industry will be vital for soil environmental protection.