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Research
Topic:
Trang
did her BSc (Hons) in Agronomy in 1993 at Nong Lam University,
Vietnam and completed an MSc (Soil Science) at the University
of Sydney, Australia in 2001 (AusAid scholar). She joined the
Applied Ecology Research Group in Nov 2003 as a PhD student
under a Ministry of Education and Training Scholarship Scheme
from the Vietnamese Government.
Trang's
PhD project closely allied to a collaborative research program
between The University of Melbourne and Melbourne Water company.
This project aims to assess phytoextraction as a means of remediating
contaminated biosolid stockpiles and soils contaminated by long-term
exposure to sewage sludge at the Western Treatment Plant, Werribee,
Victoria. Trang's project aims to determine the fate and bioavailability
of heavy metals during phytoextraction using metal-accumulating
plants such as willows and poplars.
The
project involves field sampling, bioassay and pot trials in
glasshouse to assess the feasibility to phytoextraction of willows
and poplars species. The central part of her research involves
column experiments to assess the fate and bioavailability of
heavy metals particularly Cd, Cu, Zn and Ni in solution and
solid phases of biosolids during phytoextraction using different
techniques. The in situ soil solution sampling technique is
used to monitor the fate of heavy metals in solution phase.
Diffusive Gradients in Thin-films (DGT) technique will be deployed
to determine the bioavailability of heavy metals in the solid
phase. An experiment aims to calibrate the Donnan Membrane Technique
(DMT) and geochemical model Visual MINTEQ to determine free
metals in soil solution was also investigated. The results of
this calibration method will then be applied to monitor the
free metals in solution phase of biosolids during phytoextraction.
Publications
Huynh
T., Baker AJM, Laidlaw WS, Singh B and Gregory D (in prep.).
Survival, tolerance and heavy metal transfer factors for willow
and poplar cultivars grown in contaminated soils and aged biosolids.
Biosolids Speciality III conference, AWA, Melbourne, June 2006.
Huynh
T, Tong AR, Singh B and Kennedy BJ (2003). Cd-substituted
goethites - A structural investigation by synchrotron X-ray
diffraction. Clays & Clay Minerals 51, 397-402. http://ccm.geoscienceworld.org/cgi/content/abstract/51/4/397
Huynh
T, Tong AR, Singh B and Kennedy BJ (2002). Studies of Synthetic
Copper Containing Goethite. Proc. of the 17th World Congress
of Soil Science. Bangkok, Thailand, August 14-21, 2002. CD paper
no 1545.
Castillo
E, Tuong TP, Huynh T, Nguyen TQT and Tran TTP (2000).
Phenological and physiological responses of rice cultivate to
level and timing of salinity stress. In: N.P.H. Clayton (Editor),
Rice-shrimp farming in the Mekong Delta: biophysical and socioeconomic
issues (TR52 2003). ACIAR, pp. 89-101.
http://www.aciar.gov.au/web.nsf/att/JFRN-6BN9AG/$file/tr52e.pdf
Supervisors:
Prof.
Alan Baker (The University of Melbourne)
Assoc.
Prof. Balwant Singh (The University of Sydney)
Dr
David Gregory (Melbourne Water)
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