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Metals in Waste Foundry Sands and an Evaluation of Their Leaching and Transport to Groundwater

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Abstract

While most waste foundry sands (WFSs) are not hazardous, regulatory agencies are often reluctant to permit their beneficial use in agricultural and geotechnical applications due to concerns over metal leaching. The objective of this study was to quantify total and Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) metals in 16 waste sands from Brazilian ferrous foundries then assess their potential to leach to groundwater using a probabilistic model. Total and TCLP metal concentrations in the non-hazardous sands fell within ranges as reported in the literature, although some of the leachate concentrations were found to exceed drinking water and groundwater maximum contaminant levels (MCLs). Leachate values above the MCLs were then used in the model to estimate groundwater concentrations at hypothetical wells up to 400m downgradient from a land application unit. A conservative scenario of 1 ha of land applied WFS, and high annual rainfall totals (low evaporation) suggested that groundwater concentrations of Ba, Hg, Mn, Ni, and Pb could potentially exceed health-based MCLs at most wells. While a wet climate can exacerbate the transport of metals, land application of WFSs in areas with moderate rainfall totals or high rainfall, high evaporation was predicted to be protective of groundwater quality and human health.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are very grateful to Rangel Carlos Eisenhut from the Brazilian Foundry Association for organizing the foundries that participated in this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Depto. de Engenharia Sanitária e Ambiental, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Campus Universitário, Florianópolis, SC, 88040-970, Brazil

    Barbara S. Q. Alves & Catia R. S. de Carvalho Pinto

  2. Northwest Irrigation & Soils Research Laboratory, USDA-ARS, 3793 North 3600 East, Kimberly, ID, 83341, USA

    Robert S. Dungan

  3. Tupy S.A., Rua Albano Schmidt 3400, Joinville, Santa Catarina, Brazil

    Raquel L. P. Carnin

  4. Department of Civil Engineering, Université Laval, Québec City, Québec, G1V 0A6, Canada

    Rosa Galvez

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  1. Barbara S. Q. Alves
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  2. Robert S. Dungan
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  3. Raquel L. P. Carnin
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  4. Rosa Galvez
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  5. Catia R. S. de Carvalho Pinto
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Correspondence to Robert S. Dungan.

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Alves, B.S.Q., Dungan, R.S., Carnin, R.L.P. et al. Metals in Waste Foundry Sands and an Evaluation of Their Leaching and Transport to Groundwater. Water Air Soil Pollut 225, 1963 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-014-1963-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-014-1963-4

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