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Application of a novel Ca-Fe-Si-S composite for the synchronous stabilization of As, Zn, Cu, and Cd in acidic arsenic slag

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Abstract

The control of multiple heavy metals (HMs) pollution in solid wastes, especially the co-contamination of As and other heavy metal cations, is of great importance to ecological and environmental health. To address this problem, the preparation and application of multifunctional materials have attracted wide attention. In this work, a novel Ca-Fe-Si-S composite (CFSS) was applied to stabilize As, Zn, Cu, and Cd in acid arsenic slag (ASS). The CFSS exhibited synchronous stabilization ability for As, Zn, Cu, Cd and owned strong acid neutralization capacity. Under simulated field conditions, the acid rain extracted HMs in ASS successfully decreased below the emission standard (GB 3838–2002-IV category in China) after incubated by 5% CFSS for 90 days. Meanwhile, the application of CFSS promoted the transformation of leachable HMs into less accessible forms, which was conductive to the long-term stabilization for HMs. There was competitive relation among the three heavy metal cations, following the stabilization sequence of Cu > Zn > Cd during incubation. And the stabilization mechanisms of HMs by CFSS were proposed as chemical precipitation, surface complexation, and ion/anion exchange. The research will be greatly conducive to the remediation and governance of field multiple HMs contaminated sites.

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Data availability

The data used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully thank the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China for giving us financially support. The authors also thank the division of public instrument analysis of research Center for eco-environmental sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Ceshigo Research Service, which supplied us the facilities to fulfill the measurements.

Funding

This work was financially supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China (2019YFC1803503).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Civil and Resource Engineering, University of Science & Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China

    Ge Zhang, Huifen Yang, Xuan Li, Yichen Zhou, Song Guo & Tong Zhao

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  1. Ge Zhang
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  2. Huifen Yang
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  3. Xuan Li
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  4. Yichen Zhou
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  5. Song Guo
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  6. Tong Zhao
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. The methodology, validation, formal analysis, investigation, and writing—original draft were performed by Ge Zhang. The writing—review and editing, supervision, project administration, and funding acquisition were performed by Huifen Yang. And all authors investigated and commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Huifen Yang.

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Zhang, G., Yang, H., Li, X. et al. Application of a novel Ca-Fe-Si-S composite for the synchronous stabilization of As, Zn, Cu, and Cd in acidic arsenic slag. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 54556–54567 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-25251-x

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