Soil Contaminated with a High Concentration of Copper or Lead Solidified with Red Mud–Carbide Slag–Phosphogypsum: Structural Stability in an Acidic Environment

Abstract

During the landfilling and resource utilization of solidified soil, it is inevitable that the material will be influenced by the surrounding water environment. Processes such as soaking and infiltration of both clean water and contaminated liquids can have an impact. This paper investigates the strength and structural stability of soil contaminated with a high concentration of lead or copper that has been solidified with red mud–carbide slag–phosphogypsum (RCP-Pb or RCP-Cu, respectively) in strongly acidic water, weakly acidic water, and pure water, as well as in two different modes of soaking and infiltration. The unconfined compressive strength, apparent and microscopic morphology, mineral composition, and functional groups of solidified soil before and after the action of different water solutions were compared, and the water and acid resistance of solidified soil was comprehensively analyzed. The results indicate that under the influence of a strongly acidic water environment, the strength of RCP-Pb and RCP-Cu can decrease by up to 26.4% and 18.5%, respectively, compared to the standard solidified specimens. Conversely, in a weakly acidic environment, the strength of the specimens can increase by a maximum of 21.1% and 32.8%, respectively. Under the two different water environment modes of action, RCP-Pb exhibits a greater increase in strength (39.8%) under soaking conditions, while RCP-Cu shows a greater increase (44.4%) under water infiltration. Based on the microscopic images, the pore counts in specimens in weakly acidic and pure water environments are greater than those in standard solidified specimens, while the porosity is less than that in standard solidified specimens. The surface of the particles exhibited increased roughness. A noticeable finding is that, under the infiltration of a strongly acidic water environment, the porosity of RCP-Pb increases to 20.22%, and the pore counts of RCP-Cu rise to 534. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analyses revealed that as the acidity of the water environment increased, the CaCO3 content significantly decreased. However, hydration products such as calcium silicate hydrate (C-S-H), calcium aluminate hydrate (C-A-H), calcium aluminosilicate hydrate (C-A-S-H), and ettringite (AFt) did not show significant differences. Consequently, the specimens maintained a stable strength and structure even under such a water environment.