Waste leaching

Most copper is processed using a combination of mining, concentrating, smelting, and refining, or by leaching waste and solvent... 

Although most of the volatile components are released to the atmosphere, a small fraction is dissolved and/or carried away with the water in the soil matiix. Leached waters are carried with the water as it percolates through the underlying soil strata. Most of the organic constituents contained in the leachate receive additional treatment as they pass through the soil cohimn. Leached wastes can also be lost in surface rtinoff. 

Periodic samples should he taken to assess the extent of completion of the hioconversion process. Core samples should he taken annually to monitor the movement of leached wastes in the underlying strata. 

Copper leaching Copper concentrate, sulfuric acid Uncontrolled leachate Heap leach waste... 

Groundwater contamination, underground injection, or leaching waste site... 

See also Hazardous wastes Leaching Waste management. 

Fig. 1 Pollution by leaching waste water (Gaza Valley)...

DEMOTOX Estimates groundwater pollution from leached wastes (prototype) M.l Micro P. Ludvigsen/ERM 16... 

Diluted iodate solution is obtained by hydrothermal vat leaching of caUche ore during nitrate recovery. Concentrated iodide solutions are obtained by heap leaching of old waste dumps (tailings) and low grade nitrate caUche, such as blasted overburden, left over by former nitrate producers. 

Another level of regulatory significance is the toxic characteristic leach procedure (TCLP) limit of a characteristic waste. A material which is a waste because of the TCLP is ha2ardous if a Hquor resulting from an 18-h leach in an acetic acid buffer exceeds 5 ppm (mg/L) lead in the leach Hquor. 

Performance assessments are predictions of radioactivity releases, the rate of transfer of contaminants through various media, and the potential for hazard to the pubHc. These are based on a combination of experimental data obtained in the process called site characterization and detaded computations about radionuchdes and their effects. The progressive attack on the metal or ceramic waste container, the diffusion of water into the waste form, the leaching of the radioactive compounds, diffusion out, and washing away of radionuchdes are all considered. 

A sohd waste is considered hazardous if it is either a Hsted waste or a characteristic waste. Listed wastes include a Hst of specific processes that generate a waste and a Hst of discarded commercial chemical products. There are four hazardous waste characteristics ignitabiHty, corrosivity, reactivity, and toxicity. The last refers to the leachabiHty of a waste and the resultant toxicity in the groundwater using the analytical method referred to as toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP). A Hst of substances included under TCLP is shown in Table 1. 

Nonferrous Metal Production. Nonferrous metal production, which includes the leaching of copper and uranium ores with sulfuric acid, accounts for about 6% of U.S. sulfur consumption and probably about the same in other developed countries. In the case of copper, sulfuric acid is used for the extraction of the metal from deposits, mine dumps, and wastes, in which the copper contents are too low to justify concentration by conventional flotation techniques or the recovery of copper from ores containing copper carbonate and siUcate minerals that caimot be readily treated by flotation (qv) processes. The sulfuric acid required for copper leaching is usually the by-product acid produced by copper smelters (see Metallurgy, extractive Minerals RECOVERY AND PROCESSING). 

Sulfur Polymer Cement. SPC has been proven effective in reducing leach rates of reactive heavy metals to the extent that some wastes can be managed solely as low level waste (LLW). When SPC is combined with mercury and lead oxides (both toxic metals), it interacts chemically to form mercury sulfide, HgS, and lead sulfide, PbS, both of which are insoluble in water. A dried sulfur residue from petroleum refining that contained 600-ppm vanadium (a carcinogen) was chemically modified using dicyclopentadiene and oligomer of cyclopentadiene and used to make SC (58). This material was examined by the California Department of Health Services (Cal EPA) and the leachable level of vanadium had been reduced to 8.3 ppm, well below the soluble threshold limit concentration of 24 ppm (59). 

Thermosetting Reactive Polymers. Materials used as thermosetting polymers include reactive monomers such as urea—formaldehyde, phenoHcs, polyesters, epoxides, and vinyls, which form a polymerized material when mixed with a catalyst. The treated waste forms a sponge-like material which traps the soHd particles, but not the Hquid fraction the waste must usually be dried and placed in containers for disposal. Because the urea—formaldehyde catalysts are strongly acidic, urea-based materials are generally not suitable for metals that can leach in the untrapped Hquid fractions. Thermosetting processes have greater utiHty for radioactive materials and acid wastes. 

Cement plants in the United States are now carehiUy monitored for compliance with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards for emissions of particulates, SO, NO, and hydrocarbons. AH plants incorporate particulate collection devices such as baghouses and electrostatic precipitators (see Air POLLUTION CONTROL methods). The particulates removed from stack emissions are called cement kiln dust (CKD). It has been shown that CKD is characterized by low concentrations of metals which leach from the CKD at levels far below regulatory limits (63,64). Environmental issues continue to be of concern as the use of waste fuel in cement kilns becomes more widespread. 

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