Fate of copper, nickel and zinc after biogas digestate application to three different soil types

Soil application of organic residues from anaerobic digestion of municipal food waste and/or sewage sludge may introduce considerable amounts of heavy metals into the environment. In a column leaching experiment, mobility and release of Cu, Ni and Zn were investigated in three contrasting soils (sand, silt, loam) fertilized with biogas digestates of different origin. The effect of commercial digestates, based on food waste and sewage sludge, was compared to that of experimental digestates based on animal manure and whey permeate with or without fish ensilage, as well as untreated manure, mineral fertilizer and an untreated control. Manure and digestates were added to the columns as fresh material at equal amounts of available nitrogen. The experiment simulated high-intensity rainfall over a period of 7 days. In general, soil treated with the commercial digestates with higher original metal content showed less environmental impact in terms of Ni, Cu and Zn leaching than that treated with experimental digestates with lower original metal content and less than when animal manure or mineral fertilizer was applied. Although effects of digestate application on metal mobility in soils were seen in conditions of extreme precipitation, the leached concentrations of metals were below limitations published by the WHO but still significantly higher than that measured for control soils.