Mobility Of Hazardous Elements Research Articles

The leaching potential of sewage sludge and municipal waste incineration ashes in terms of landfill safety and potential reuse

Incinerations residues from different types of materials (sewage sludge incineration ash and municipal waste incineration ashes) can either be by-products used in industry, or can pose a serious environmental problem related to their composition and the presence of potentially hazardous elements. State regulations and standards indicate whether material is inert, non-hazardous or hazardous. These standards, however, do not provide a complete overview on the leaching behavior of potentially hazardous elements in the environment. This study presents the result of batch experiment performed in accordance with the PN-EN 12457-2 (2006) and PN-EN 12457-4 (2006) standards. The results indicated that the leachability of elements is strongly dependent on the mineral composition of the waste product (the concentration and composition of soluble phase), the chemical composition (the mobility of hazardous elements and their affinity to soluble minerals), and the pH. To ensure environmental safety a thorough characterization of the waste is required followed by qualitative assignment to a particular waste type based on available guidance. Furthermore, to avoid leaching of potentially harmful elements into soils or surface water, it is also paramount to perform environmental impact assessment of wastes used as by-product in industry e.g., as building or road construction materials (aggregate) and fertilizers.

Safety of Nanoclay/Spring Water Hydrogels: Assessment and Mobility of Hazardous Elements.

The presence of impurities in medicinal products have to be controlled within safety limits from a pharmaceutical quality perspective. This matter is of special significance for those countries and regions where the directives, guidelines, or legislations, which prescribe the rules for the application of some products is quite selective or incomplete. Clay-based hydrogels are quite an example of this matter since they are topically administered, but, in some regions, they are not subjected to well-defined legal regulations. Since hydrogels establish an intimate contact with the skin, hazardous elements present in the ingredients could potentially be bioavailable and compromise their safety. The elemental composition and mobility of elements present in two hydrogels have been assessed. Sepiolite, palygorskite, and natural spring water were used as ingredients. The release of a particular element mainly depends on its position in the structure of the hydrogels, not only on its concentration in each ingredient. As a general trend, elements’ mobility reduced with time. Among the most dangerous elements, whose presence in cosmetics is strictly forbidden by European legal regulations, As and Cd were mobile, although in very low amounts (0.1 and 0.2 μg/100 g of hydrogel, respectively). That is, assuming 100% bioavailability, the studied hydrogels would be completely safe at normal doses. Although there is no sufficient evidence to confirm that their presence is detrimental to hydrogels safety, legally speaking, their mobility could hinder the authorization of these hydrogels as medicines or cosmetics. In conclusion, the present study demonstrates that hydrogels prepared with sepiolite, palygorskite, and Alicún spring water could be topically applied without major intoxication risks.

Synthesis of high quality zeolites from coal fly ash: Mobility of hazardous elements and environmental applications

Converting fly ash into zeolite is an alternative way to reduce the waste landfills while also producing high value-added products. However, hydrothermal synthesis of zeolite from fly ash in alkaline media could also induce mobilization of toxic heavy metals, possibly causing environmental contamination. Systematic research into this subject is rare in the open literature and the mobility of heavy metals from fly ash derived zeolites is yet to be understood. In the present contribution, we investigated the migration of heavy metals and quantified their distribution from fly ash to product zeolites and waste water during the synthesis of high-quality type A zeolites (471 m2/g surface area). High conversions of major elements (98.2% aluminium and 96.5% silicon) were achieved, with zero secondary solid waste. Metalloid elements including arsenic and selenium, and those with strong amphoteric properties e.g. molybdenum were found highly mobile and mostly presented in the wastewater. In comparison, less than 20% of the heavy metals with weak amphoteric nature including copper, chromium and lead from the fly ash went to the wastewater; the rest along with almost all cadmium, iron and nickel were fixed into the product zeolites. Despite the existence of heavy metal elements in zeolites, there was no noticeable leaching under various pH conditions, hence deemed safe for applications. Furthermore, the effective removal of trace strontium and caesium cations from contaminated water using such zeolites was demonstrated.

Hazardous elements speciation in sandy, alkaline coal mine overburden by using different sequential extraction procedures

This paper deals with the problem of hazardous elements (HE) speciation in sandy, alkaline coal mine overburden destined for restoration. Two sequential extraction procedures [five stages Tesier’s (T) and seven stages Zeien and Brümmner’s method (ZB)] were employed that focused on potentially bioavailable HE fractions previously found in plants growing during this soil restoration process. The results showed that the selection of the extraction procedure in HE speciation is essential, due to the different potential threats of HE fractions obtained for plants. The biggest residual fraction obtained by both extractions suggest geogenic origin of Cu, Zn, Ni, Cr and Pb. Tesier’s extraction procedure works reasonably well for low concentration of water soluble and exchangeable HEs, whilst giving higher values for their organically bound forms. Zeien and Brümmner’s method, however, was found to be more appropriate for evaluation of the mobility of HE as Mn and Fe oxide fractions. The principal component analysis test estimated three main groups where the relationship between soil properties (pH, clay and silt), total content of element and available fractions (Zn, Ni, Cr, Pb-T and Ni-ZB) was defined as a PC 1 group. Other PC 2 and PC 3 from the PCA analysis include Corg and CEC, and available Cu-T and Cr, Pb-ZB, respectively. The PC 3 factor linked fine sand and available Zn-ZB. Pearson’s correlation coefficients showed a high correlation between available HE and high pH(KCl) obtained by T-extraction, and Ni by Zn-extraction. Also, clay, silt and fine sand were highly correlated with the Ni-ZB available forms.

Changes in mobility of hazardous elements during coal combustion in Santa Catarina power plant (Brazil)

This paper reports about changes in mobility of hazardous elements contained in coal during combustion at a power plant in Santa Catarina (Brazil) and the environmental impact potential of ashes. Total and mobile element concentrations were determined by digestion and sequential extraction. Comparison of results within the mobile fraction showed that after combustion, oxidizable elements bound to organic matter and sulfides in coal were mostly transformed into elements easily soluble in water or slightly acidic conditions and, hence, most readily bioaccumulative in the environment in ashes, mainly U, Cr, and As. Capacity of ashes as a source of mobile pollutants was quantified by combining sequential extraction and annual production. Just considering the easily soluble fraction, coal ashes could leach up to 839tons of Al, 144tons of Fe, 100tons of Mn, 4.6tons of Zn, 3.1tons of Cr, 1.7tons of As, 1.5tons of Cu, 490kg of U, and 20kg of Pb every year. Bottom ashes are disposed of in landfill sites close to the plant. Fly ashes are recycled as construction material. Diagnostic processes do not consider checking for these highly mobile hazardous elements. Hence, uncontrolled dumping and use of these by-products may pose significant risks to environment and human health.

Macro and microchemistry of trace metals in vitrified domestic wastes by laser ablation ICP-MS and scanning electron microprobe X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy

Management of domestic wastes often relies on incineration, a process that eliminates large amount of wastes but also produces toxic residues that concentrate heavy metals. Those hazardous secondary wastes require specific treatment. Vitrification is seen as a powerful way to stabilise them. However, concern exists about the long term behaviour of these glass wastes and the potential release of toxic species into the environment. The answers will come with further investigation into the physico-chemical evolution of the vitrified wastes and the mobility of hazardous elements within the matrix with appropriate analytical methods. Laser ablation coupled with inductively coupled mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) is a challenging technique for the chemical analysis of trace elements in solid materials. This paper presents an evaluation of the potential of LA- ICP-MS for macro and microanalysis of trace metals in domestic vitrified wastes with regards to other physical analytical techniques of solids such as scanning electronprobe X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDXS). Two typical samples, vitreous and crystallised, are used to compare the analytical performances of the two techniques. SEM-EDXS was used for mineralogical characterisation and chemical analysis of the mineralogical phases. Relative micro-analysis and bulk quantitative analysis of 30 major, minor and trace elements was performed by LA-ICP-MS: precision was between 10 and 20% for most elements and quantitative analysis proved possible with an accuracy of 20% and relative detection limits of 0.1 mg kg −1.