Abstract
Steel slag is an industrial by product of steel manufacturing processes and has been widely utilized within civil and construction materials for road materials and environmental remediation in countries like Japan, USA, and European Union nations. However, the current utilization of steel slag in Vietnam is very low mainly because of lack of quality control of slag treatment and chances for reuse of treated steel slag. This paper presents the up to date steel slag production status in Vietnam through the extensive survey and sampling at seven large steel factories. The paper also highlights the environmental and quality control issues of these steel slags to use as road construction aggregates by assessing the heavy metals concentration in the leachate. The basic oxygen furnace (BOF) and electric arc furnace (EAF) slag samples were collected to evaluate leaching properties of metals leached from the slags. The two standardized batch leaching tests of steel slag roadbed material in Japan (JIS K 0058-1) and toxicity characteristics leaching procedure (TCLP—EPA method 1311) were performed to the evaluated the hazardous metals. The results of the leaching test show that almost all of the concentration of the metals in the leached solution does not exceed the National Standard for Industrial Wastewater Discharge (QCVN 40-2011). The pH and parameters such as total chromium, nickel, copper, lead, arsenic, and manganese differ from the two test methods. The acidic conditions employed in the EPA 1311 were not representative of condition excepted during slag reuse in road constructions because in the operation condition of the road, acidic liquid is absent. The leaching test results confirmed that JIS test which uses deionized water with gentle mixing prevents the slag sample from size degradation is suitable for the environmental assessment of steel slag use for roadbed material. This research suggests that the adjustment of pH value prior to disposal or reuse as base materials and official guideline should be promulgate by the authorities to ensure the leachate meet the surface water quality standard.
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Data availability
The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to the information security conditions of the project.
Abbreviations
- BOF:
-
Basic oxygen furnace
- EAF:
-
Electric arc furnace
- IF:
-
Induction furnace
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Funding
This research is funded by Hanoi University of Civil Engineering (HUCE) under grant no. 12 - 2021/KHXD-TD. The authors also acknowledge the experimental analysis support from JFE-Steel Corporation Japan.
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LHN, YT, and TLN analyzed and interpreted the data regarding the leaching test. TDN, LHN, TPN, DLN, YT, TI, and NTN performed field study and sampling. LHN was a major contributor in writing the manuscript. YT, TI, TVNT, THN, TPN, RS, HST, NTN, TLN, and HGN contributed in review and editing the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Nguyen, .H., Nguyen, T.D., Tran, T.V.N. et al. Steel slag quality control for road construction aggregates and its environmental impact: case study of Vietnamese steel industry—leaching of heavy metals from steel-making slag. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 41983–41991 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-16438-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-16438-1