Determination of REEs in agricultural soils of pernambuco by the neutron activation technique

Abstract

The indiscriminate use of phosphate fertilizers causes adverse effects on biota, mainly due to the contaminants present in the rocks used in their manufacture. Among these contaminants, stand out the Rare Earth Elements (REEs) because of the significant increase in the use in several technological areas, such as in vehicle catalysts and also in fertilizer enrichment. In order to evaluate the levels of La, Sm, Nd, Yb and Lu by the Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA), the present study aims to survey the ETRs in agricultural soils in Pernambuco/Brazil. For this study, 120 soil samples with a depth of 20 cm were collected in the main vegetable producing regions of the Metropolitan Region of Recife (RMR), evaluating organic and conventional crops with and without influenced by automotive vehicles. The results obtained when compared to the Netherlands reference values defined by the National Institute of Health and Environment (RIVM). The results were higher in all points for La (35 mg.kg-¹ at 85 mg.kg-¹) Yb, (4 mg.kg-¹ at 11 mg.kg-¹) and Lu (0.3 mg.kg-¹ at 0.7 mg.kg-¹ at 4 mg.kg-¹). For Nd (9 mg.kg-¹ at 137 mg.kg-¹) the concentrations were above the values reported by RIVM in 4 points. Comparing the types of crops evaluated with the literature, the results are found was above for all elements analyzed. It may be related to the increase in the use of phosphate fertilizers. However, in environments using smaller amounts of additives, the results were also significant and the more detailed studies are needed to evaluate other possible contamination pathways.