Abstract
Natural oyster shells (NOS) and calcined oyster shells (COS) were used to immobilize arsenic (As) from contaminated mine tailings. In addition, a blend of Portland cement (PC)/cement kiln dust (CKD) was used as a stabilizing agent. The Korean Standard Test (KST) method (1 N HCl extraction) was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the treatment. The experimental results showed that COS effectively immobilized As in treated mine tailings. Specifically, an As concentration less than 1 mg L−1 was obtained following COS treatment at 25 and 30 wt%. However, all the samples subjected to NOS treatments failed the Korean warning standard of 1.2 mg L−1 after 28 days of curing. All of the COS-PC treatments were successful meeting the Korean warning standard after 7 days of curing. However, the PC-only treatment failed to meet the Korean warning standard. Similarly, the CKD-only treatment was failed to meet the Korean warning standard after 7 days of curing. However, the COS-CKD treatment showed that when the COS content was greater than 20 wt%, less than 1 mg L−1 of As leachability was obtained. Scanning electron microscopy–energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM–EDX) showed needle-like and torpedo-like Ca–As phases in the COS-treated samples suggesting that As was strongly associated with Ca and O. X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) analyses confirmed that As(V) was prevalent in the tailings and that there were no changes in As speciation following NOS or COS treatment.
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Acknowledgments
This study was supported by the Korea Ministry of Environment as “The GAIA Project No. 173-091-003”. The authors would like to thank Dr. Min Gyu Kim and the members at the Pohang Accelerator Laboratory (PAL), South Korea for their integral help with the XANES analyses. The PC and CKD were provided by Mr. Jeff Fair of LaFarge North America (Coopersburg, PA).
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Moon, D.H., Kim, KW., Yoon, IH. et al. Stabilization of arsenic-contaminated mine tailings using natural and calcined oyster shells. Environ Earth Sci 64, 597–605 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-010-0890-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-010-0890-y