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A Leaching Test for Low-Strength Pervious Shaped Materials Containing Zinc Ashes or Lead Slag

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Abstract

Leaching is a universal process by which contaminants are released from a solid material into the water phase when exposed to water. To test a low-strength pervious monolithic material, we propose a leaching test which is performed by means of a flexible wall permeameter, commonly used to measure the hydraulic conductivity of materials. This technique allows to work according to the principles of a column leaching test and measures the mass transfer driven leaching of contaminants without the need to crush the material. Hence, the field conditions in which the material is applied are better simulated. In this work, two types of stabilised mineral waste materials are tested, namely zinc ashes and lead slag. The cumulative emission at a liquid/solid ratio of 10 (L/S = 10) was for many of the investigated contaminants higher in the column leaching test than in the permeability leaching test. It is believed that the enhanced leachability is caused by the crushing of the material as a pre-condition for the application of column tests which increases first flush effects and augments the pH of the studied materials during leaching. Our results indicate that the column leaching test can overestimate the leachability of certain contaminants with several orders of magnitude. Therefore, we advise to use the permeability leaching test to assess the potential environmental risks associated with e.g. stabilised zinc ashes in a specific application. Thus, this new test gives a more realistic estimate of the field condition leaching of low-strength pervious materials and hence increases the relevance of such an assessment.

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Notes

  1. The coefficient a allows for the adjustment of the flow rate such that a certain L/S ratio is always obtained at a fixed time, independently of the weight of the investigated sample. When a equals 0.021 l/h kg the column leaching test reaches the end point, L/S = 10, after about 3 weeks.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to acknowledge the Public Waste Agency of Flanders (OVAM) for funding this research within the VITO contract 081957. We also express our gratitude to the city of Lommel (Belgium) and Jakobs nv (Belgium) for providing the waste samples. Ing. Kane Van Kerckhoven (Artesis hogeschool) has performed the experiments on lead slag as part of a Master thesis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Flemish Institute for Technological Research, Boeretang 200, 2400, Mol, Belgium

    Jeroen Spooren, Mieke Quaghebeur, Sven Nicolaï, Peter Nielsen, Kris Broos & Liesbeth Horckmans

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  1. Jeroen Spooren
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  2. Mieke Quaghebeur
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  3. Sven Nicolaï
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  4. Peter Nielsen
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  5. Kris Broos
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  6. Liesbeth Horckmans
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Correspondence to Jeroen Spooren.

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Spooren, J., Quaghebeur, M., Nicolaï, S. et al. A Leaching Test for Low-Strength Pervious Shaped Materials Containing Zinc Ashes or Lead Slag. Waste Biomass Valor 4, 769–779 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-013-9241-z

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