Utilization effects and environmental risks of phosphogypsum in agriculture: A review

摘要

In the previous half century, it has presented a broad interest in promoting the multipurpose application of waste phosphogypsum (PG). Owing to its effects in the improvement of soil properties, PG has been widely utilized in agriculture field as an amendment. Although the application of PG in agriculture can make a good economic profit, the relevant research is very inadequate compared to the application in other fields. An integrated review of a large amount of research on agriculture utilization of PG as a soil improver was carried out in this study, including the PG properties, application scopes, improvement effects, and environmental risks. Waste PG presents a plenty of effects in agriculture utilization as a soil amendment, e.g., improving soil physicochemical properties, reducing heavy metal leaching, lessening soil loss, supplying beneficial trace elements, and promoting crop growth. However, waste PG contains high contents of salts, heavy metals, and some natural radionuclides. Therefore, some key aspects regarding PG application in agriculture should be concerned, e.g., the long-range effects of PG on the soil quality, heavy metal accumulation, radiological impact, plant development and crop quality. Moreover, the amelioration effects of mixing PG with other various amendments should be discussed to advance the agriculture utilization of PG. The issues of salt concentration, heavy metal toxicity, and radiological impact due to extra addition also need to be resolved when waste PG is utilized in agricultural field. Due to the limitation of environmental risks, the utilization conditions of PG in agriculture should be determined. In addition, some standards and regulations for the practical utilization of PG should be put forward to effectively guide the application of PG in agriculture. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.