Leaching of Cr, Cu, Ni, and Zn from different solid wastes: Effects of adding adsorbents and using different leaching solutions

Abstract

The leaching of potentially toxic elements from different industrial solid wastes (ISWs) must be understood to manage the environmental concerns they pose. The objective of this research was to investigate the effect of clay mineral (bentonite) and nanoparticle (MgO) on potentially toxic elements (Cr, Cu, Ni, Zn) leaching in some ISWs, when they leached with different leaching solutions. The highest amount of Zn and Ni was leached from ceramic factory waste (CFW) and stone cutting wastes (SCW), respectively, while the highest amount of Cr was leached from leather factory waste (LFW). In ISWs, the leaching percentage of Cu, Ni, and Zn were up to 11.2%, whereas the greatest leaching percentage of Cr was 26.7% of the total content. The addition of bentonite and MgO decreased potentially toxic element leaching. The results of effluents speciation of SFW indicated that at the beginning of leaching with CaCl2, nitric acid, and citric acid, 75.1%, 84.1%, and 39.6% of Cr were in different forms of Cr (III), respectively, while at the end of leaching the percentage of Cr (III) species were decreased and Cr (VI) species were increased to 83.6%, 88.4%, and 93.4%, respectively. The addition of bentonite and especially MgO to the ISWs reduced the leaching of potentially toxic elements as well as reduced the percentage of Cr (VI) in the effluents of SFW. The findings suggested that bentonite has the potential to be a low-cost and environmentally acceptable adsorbent for minimizing the leaching of Cr and other potentially toxic elements from ISWs.