Bioleaching as a sustainable ex situ remediation method for agricultural soils contaminated with heavy metals and energetic materials

Abstract. A substantial portion of agricultural land in Ukraine has been severely affected by the ongoing armed conflict, resulting in extensive soil contamination by heavy metals and residues of energetic materials. Identifying effective and environmentally sustainable remediation strategies for such multi-contaminated soils represents an important challenge in contemporary environmental research. This paper presents bioleaching using the acidophilic bacteria Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans as a sustainable and environmentally friendly remediation method for soils contaminated with heavy metals due to military activities. To simulate the conditions expected in war-affected Ukrainian soils, experimental bioleaching tests were conducted on soils collected from military training areas in the Czech Republic, including a grenade range, a shooting range, and a blast-training site. The results show that bioleaching provides an effective ex situ remediation method, achieving particularly high extraction efficiencies for copper and nickel. In several samples, its performance exceeded that of chemical leaching with nitric acid, confirming the potential of bioleaching as a viable and sustainable option for treating contaminated soils.