Empirical Partitioning Leach Model for Solidified/Stabilized Wastes

Abstract

A model has been developed to describe dynamic leaching of metal contaminants from solidified wastes using data for calibration that are taken only from batch tests. The model describes the three major factors affecting leaching: (1) acid/base reactions that determine the pH within the waste; (2) pH-dependent reactions that determine whether the contaminants are in mobile or immobile forms; and (3) diffusion that transports mobile contaminants from the waste. Acid/base reactions and mobilization/immobilization reactions of contaminants are described by empirical equations calibrated from batch equilibrium tests. Precipitation or sorption reactions are used to describe partitioning of contaminants among mobile and immobile forms. Fickian diffusion is used to describe transport of soluble compounds. Model predictions for observed diffusivities of copper, chromium, lead, and zinc agreed well with the experimental data obtained from dynamic leaching tests. Little difference was observed in model predictions when contaminant immobilization was assumed to be caused by precipitation or by sorption. Model simulations indicate that the assumption of an infinite bath may not apply to dynamic leach tests when contaminants are strongly immobilized.