Abstract
Decreasing carbon emissions by replacing Portland cement (PC) with supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs), such as low-grade limestone (LS) and calcined clays (CC), has tremendous potential for stabilization/solidification (S/S) of industrial hazardous waste primarily with heavy metals. Recently, a low-carbon-based cementitious binder, namely, limestone calcined clay cement (LC), has emerged as an alternative for S/S treatment of wastes. However, comprehensive comparison between LC and PC application in solidifying/stabilizing wastes has not been conducted. This study aims to investigate the S/S efficiency of Pb-Zn smelter residue (LZSR) comprising heavy metals lead (Pb), zinc (Zn), and cadmium (Cd) at higher concentrations. LZSR is treated with LC and PC for capturing strength and leaching toxicity. The test results indicate that low-grade CC and LS in the LC binder can promote the alkaline environment, and act as fillers in solidifying heavy metals. The toxicity characteristic leaching procedure leaching concentrations of untreated (UT) LZSR were 503 mg/kg, 1266 mg/kg, and 251 mg/kg for Pb, Zn, and Cd, respectively. After a 28-day curing, the leaching concentrations in LC-treated LZSR reduced to 4.33 mg/kg, 189.68 mg/kg, and 0.46 mg/kg, while the leaching concentrations of PC-treated LZSR reduced to 29 mg/kg, 338 mg/kg, and 6 mg/kg for Pb, Zn, and Cd, respectively. The maximum immobilization efficiencies for Pb, Zn, and Cd reached 85%, 99%, and 99%, respectively. Moreover, the insoluble phases for Pb, Zn, and Cd obtained from the sequential extraction test results were 63.5%, 72.1%, and 42.4% for LC-treated LZSR and 35.7%, 38%, and 43% for PC-treated LZSR with binder content of 8% binder and curing time of 28 days. Increasing curing time and binder content reduced leaching concentrations, and the underneath mechanisms were interpreted by XRD, SEM-EDS, and FTIR analyses. Overall, the results indicate that Pb, Zn, and Cd can be successfully immobilized using 8% LC binder by transforming soluble heavy metals to insoluble hydroxides and their complexes.
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The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are included in the published article and its supplementary information files and are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
The authors appreciate Hindustan Zinc Limited (HZL), Rajasthan, India, and Technological Action in Rural Advancement, New Delhi, India, for providing LZSR and LC binder used in this study. The technical support from the Applied Chemistry Department, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, (SVNIT), Surat, India, for the spectroscopy analysis performed in this study is kindly acknowledged.
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Vemula Anand Reddy: conceptualization, laboratory testing, results analysis, data curation, writing—original manuscript. Chandresh H. Solanki: investigation, supervision, writing—review. Shailendra Kumar: supervision, writing—review. Krishna R. Reddy: conceptualization, results analysis, writing—review and editing. Yan Jun Du: results analysis, writing—review and editing. All the authors have read and agreed to the current version of the manuscript.
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Reddy, V.A., Solanki, C.H., Kumar, S. et al. Comparison of limestone calcined clay cement and ordinary Portland cement for stabilization/solidification of Pb-Zn smelter residue. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 11393–11404 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-16421-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-16421-w