Paper Title
Cadmium Sorption by Copper-Mine Tailings Amended with Compost and Fertilizer

Abstract
The aim of the present study is to assess the capacity of vegetated copper-mine tailings to eliminate cadmium (Cd) from aqueous solutions. The sorption measurement was carried out on cultivated tailing samples by adding 30 mL of CdCl2 solutions containing 0, 100, 200, 400, 500, 1000, 1500 and 2000 mg Cd L-1 in0.01 M CaCl2 solution. After 48 h, the concentration of Cu in the equilibrium solution was measured by atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The experimental data were fitted to the linear equation of the isotherm of Freundlich. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed highly significant (P<0.001) simple effects of compost rate on the sorption parameters (Q and KF). Sorbed Cd and KF values were positively correlated (p0.001) with organic matter content of tailing samples. The results indicate that copper mine tailings amended with a commercial compost containing peat moss and shrimp wastes can fix important quantities of anthropogenic soluble Cd. Keywords - Heavy Metal, Compost, Trace Element, Pollution, Decontamination.