Spectroscopic evidence of Cr(VI) reduction in a contaminated soil by in situ treatment with whey

A soil in southern Italy contaminated by hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)] was treated in situ with whey in order to reduce it to the much less toxic trivalent form [Cr(III)]. A site assessment was carried out by sampling soil at 1m depth before and after the addition of whey to continuously evaluate the efficiency of the treatment. A quantitative evaluation by best-fit linear combination analysis of the XANES portion of X-ray absorption spectra revealed that the treatment had only a moderate success, and suggests that additional studies are required before this technique can be considered as viable for the remediation of Cr(VI)-contaminated soils.