Determination of Leaching Characteristics of Waste Materials Leading to Environmental Product Certification

Abstract

Quantifying the environmental impact of potentially hazardous materials in a wide variety of applications and disposal scenarios is essential to proper management of these materials. In an environmental assessment, the release of contaminants from the waste body with time has to be determined rather than aiming at concentration limits as currently used. In this approach, test results should yield information on leach rates. This implies the use of test methods other than those currently applied in the regulatory framework (EP, TCLP, DIN 38414-S4). The tank leaching procedure proved to be a proper method for characterizing the leaching behavior of trace contaminants from construction materials and stabilized waste products. Distinction between different leaching mechanisms is possible: dissolution, surface washoff, and matrix diffusion. Leach parameters, which allow estimating release at much longer time scales than the duration of the actual experiment, can be obtained from the tank leaching test. These parameters [availability for leaching, physical retardation (tortuosity), and chemical retention] offer control over the environmental quality of materials. A calculation method, different from the methods that have been published so far in the literature, is proposed for determinating the leaching mechanism in the material. The paper shows that the traditionally used one-dimensional model cannot predict long-term release with sufficient accuracy in actual applications because it does not take into account the limited leachable amount and the dimensions of the material. Since a one-dimensional model cannot describe the release with time as a function of different material shapes, even when depletion of the source is accounted for, at Netherlands Energy Research Foundation (ECN) a three-dimensional model is currently being developed that does offer these capabilities. Some preliminary results are presented. The variation found in the test results within one category of materials is relatively small and indicates that possibilities for developing short tests exist. For certification activities and quality control, this would be useful in creating a framework for environmental control parallel to technical product quality. At ECN a database for leach data has been developed. Storing detailed leach data on different construction materials and stabilized waste products in a database offers opportunities for a more efficient use of costly leaching studies. The knowledge gained by gathering information on a wide variety of materials may prove particularly useful in establishing systematic trends in leaching and selecting new directions for reusing waste materials. Also, a database will be a very useful tool in the environmental certification process for construction materials containing waste materials. It can be concluded that test methods tailored to a utilization option offer better possibilities than a single shake test for making proper choices in the wide variety of materials in an even wider range of possible applications.

Ceramic tiles with black pigment made from stainless steel plant dust: Physical properties and long-term leaching behavior of heavy metals

“…This shows that the slopes of the logarithm of cumulative released fractions of Cr, Cd, Ni, and Zn versus the logarithm of leaching time are 0.28, 0.44, 0.51, and 0.59, respectively. This indicates that the controlling leaching mechanism of Cr is initial surface wash-off, because the slope of the regression line is lower than 0.4 (De Groot and van der Sloot, 1992). Since the slopes of the regression lines of Cd, Ni, and Zn are 0.44, 0.51, and 0.59, respectively, and are in the range of 0.4-0.6, the leaching of Cd, Ni, and Zn is mainly controlled by matrix diffusion.…”

“…On the other hand, compared with the availability leaching tests, such as the Toxicity Characteristics Leaching Procedure (TCLP) test and the ASTM D 3987-85 test, a semidynamic leaching test is usually employed to study the long-term leachability and controlling leaching mechanisms of the heavy metals from the stabilized/solidified (S/S) products (De Groot and van der Sloot, 1992;Andres et al, 1995;Dermatas et al, 2004), which can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of an S/S treatment process. Several researchers investigated the long-term leaching mechanisms of the toxic substances, such as As, Pb, Cu, Cd, Cr, Zn, and Mg, from the S/S products (cements or glass) made from fly ash, ore tailings, steel foundry dust, sewage sludge, and electric furnace dust (Dutre and Vandecasteele, 1996;Moon et al, 2010;Patra et al, 2011;Song et al, 2013;Pereira et al, 2007).…”

“…Leaching models of heavy metals from the S/S products A semidynamic leaching model for evaluating the leaching mechanisms of heavy metals from the S/S product has been developed in the past decades (De Groot and van der Sloot, 1992;Côtê et al, 1987). The controlling leaching mechanisms for heavy metals release mainly include initial surface wash-off, which is due to the soluble components on the surface of the S/S products, matrix diffusion that occurs when the components leach through the matrix of the S/S product, and dissolution or corrosion, which prevails if the solution of the matrix of the S/S product is faster than that the toxic substances diffusing through the matrix of the S/S product.…”

Avaliação Ambiental de Produtos e Sistemas Construtivos Inovadores com Resíduos: Lixiviação e Solubilização

“…No caso de a avaliação de um elemento construtivo que é exposto à chuva e, portanto, às intempéries, durante sua fase de uso, optar por um teste de lixiviação que não simule as condições ambientais reais, há a possibilidade de não se reproduzir o resultado real e não se representar fielmente o mecanismo de lixiviação que ocorre. Sloot (1992), os mecanismos de lixiviação de produto em matriz de cimento Portland podem ser defi nidos como:…”

Immobilization of Cadmium from Contaminated Sediment Using Cardboard Mill Sludge

“…If the slope is close to zero (0.00-0.40) the controlling leaching mechanism is surface wash-off. [12].…”