Sample records for heap leaching structures

  1. Application of Reactive Transport Modeling to Heap Bioleaching of Copper

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, W.

    2017-12-01

    Copper heap bioleaching is a complex industrial process that utilizes oxidative chemical leaching and microbial activities to extract copper from packed ore beds. Mathematical modelling is an effective tool for identifying key factors that determine the leaching performance. HeapSim is a modelling tool that incorporates all fundamental processes that occur in a heap under leach, such as the movement of leaching solution, chemical reaction kinetics, heat transfer, and microbial activities, to predict the leaching behavior of a heap. In this study, the HeapSim model was applied to simulate chalcocite heap bioleaching at Quebrada Blanca mine located in the Northern Chile. The main findings were that the model could be satisfactorily calibrated and validated to simulate chalcocite leaching. Heap temperature was sensitive to the changes in the raffinate temperature, raffinate flow rate, and the extent of pyrite oxidation. At high flow rates, heap temperature was controlled by the raffinate temperature. In contrast, heat removal by the raffinate solution flow was insignificant at low flow rates, leading to the accumulation of heat generated by pyrite reaction and therefore an increase in heap temperature.

  2. Novel Binders and Methods for Agglomeration of Ore

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    S. K. Kawatra; T. C. Eisele; K. A. Lewandowski

    2006-09-30

    Heap leaching is one of the methods being used to recover metal from low grade ore deposits. The main problem faced during heap leaching is the migration of fine grained particles through the heap, forming impermeable beds which result in poor solution flow. The poor solution flow leads to less contact between the leach solution and the ore, resulting in low recovery rates. Agglomeration of ore into coarse, porous masses prevents fine particles from migrating and clogging the spaces and channels between the larger ore particles. Currently, there is one facility in the United States which uses agglomeration. This operationmore » agglomerates their ore using leach solution (raffinate), but is still experiencing undesirable metal recovery from the heaps due to agglomerate breakdown. The use of a binder, in addition to the leach solution, during agglomeration would help to produce stronger agglomerates that did not break down during processing. However, there are no known binders that will work satisfactorily in the acidic environment of a heap, at a reasonable cost. As a result, operators of many facilities see a large loss of process efficiency due to their inability to take advantage of agglomeration. Increasing copper recovery in heap leaching by the use of binders and agglomeration would result in a significant decrease in the amount of energy consumed. Assuming that 70% of all the leaching heaps would convert to using agglomeration technology, as much as 1.64*10{sup 12} BTU per year would be able to be saved if a 25% increase in copper recovery was experienced, which is equivalent to saving approximately 18% of the energy currently being used in leaching heaps. For every week a leach cycle was decreased, a savings of as much as 1.23*10{sup 11} BTU per week would result. This project has identified several acid-resistant binders and agglomeration procedures. These binders and experimental procedures will be able to be used for use in improving the energy efficiency of heap leaching.« less

  3. Estimated water requirements for gold heap-leach operations

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Bleiwas, Donald I.

    2012-01-01

    This report provides a perspective on the amount of water necessary for conventional gold heap-leach operations. Water is required for drilling and dust suppression during mining, for agglomeration and as leachate during ore processing, to support the workforce (requires water in potable form and for sanitation), for minesite reclamation, and to compensate for water lost to evaporation and leakage. Maintaining an adequate water balance is especially critical in areas where surface and groundwater are difficult to acquire because of unfavorable climatic conditions [arid conditions and (or) a high evaporation rate]; where there is competition with other uses, such as for agriculture, industry, and use by municipalities; and where compliance with regulatory requirements may restrict water usage. Estimating the water consumption of heap-leach operations requires an understanding of the heap-leach process itself. The task is fairly complex because, although they all share some common features, each gold heap-leach operation is unique. Also, estimating the water consumption requires a synthesis of several fields of science, including chemistry, ecology, geology, hydrology, and meteorology, as well as consideration of economic factors.

  4. Cyanide hazards to plants and animals from gold mining and related water issues

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Eisler, R.; Wiemeyer, Stanley N.

    2004-01-01

    Highly toxic sodium cyanide (NaCN) is used by the international mining community to extract gold and other precious metals through milling of high-grade ores and heap leaching of low-grade ores (Korte et al. 2000). The process to concentrate gold using cyanide was developed in Scotland in 1887 and was used almost immediately in the Witwatersrand gold fields of the Republic of South Africa. Heap leaching with cyanide was proposed by the U.S. Bureau of Mines in 1969 as a means of extracting gold from low-grade ores. The gold industry adopted the technique in the 1970s, soon making heap leaching the dominant technology in gold extraction (Da Rosa and Lyon 1997). The heap leach and milling processes, which involve dewatering of gold-bearing ores, spraying of dilute cyanide solutions on extremely large heaps of ores containing low concentrations of gold, or the milling of ores with the use of cyanide and subsequent recovery of the gold-cyanide complex, have created a number of serious environmental problems affecting wildlife and water management. In this account, we review the history of cyanide use in gold mining with emphasis on heap leach gold mining, cyanide hazards to plants and animals, water management issues associated with gold mining, and proposed mitigation and research needs.

  5. Role of hydrogen ions in standard and activation heap leaching of gold

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rubtsov, YuI

    2017-02-01

    The role of hydrogen ions in activation heap leaching of gold from rebellious ore has been studied, which has allowed enhancing gold recovery. The author puts forward a gold leaching circuit with the use of activated oxygen-saturated solutions acidified to pH = 6-9.

  6. Sodium cyanide hazards to fish and other wildlife from gold mining operations

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Eisler, R.; Clark, D.R.; Wiemeyer, Stanley N.; Henny, C.J.; Azcue, Jose M.

    1999-01-01

    Highly toxic sodium cyanide (NaCN) is used increasingly by the international mining community to extract gold and other precious metals through milling of high grade ores and heap leaching of low grade ores. Of the 98 million kg cyanide (CN) consumed in North America in 1989, about 80% was used in gold mining (Knudson 1990). In Canada, more than 90% of the mined gold is extracted from ores with the cyanidation process. This process consists of leaching gold from the ore as a gold-cyanide complex, and gold being recovered by precipitation (Simovic and Snodgrass 1985). Milling and heap leaching require cycling of millions of liters of alkaline water containing high concentrations of potentially toxic NaCN, free cyanide, and metal cyanide complexes that are frequently accessible to wildlife. Some milling operations result in tailings ponds of 150 ha and larger. Heap leach operations that spray or drip cyanide solution onto the flattened top of the ore heap require solution processing ponds of about 1 ha in surface area. Although not intentional or desired, puddles of various sizes may occur on the top of heaps where the highest concentrations of NaCN are found. Exposed solution recovery channels are usually constructed at the base of leach heaps. All of these cyanidecontaining water bodies are hazardous to wildlife if not properly managed (Henny et al. 1994). In this account we emphasize hazards of cyanide from mining operations to fish and wildlife species and proposed mitigation to protect them.

  7. Heap leach cyanide irrigation and risk to wildlife: Ramifications for the international cyanide management code.

    PubMed

    Donato, D B; Madden-Hallett, D M; Smith, G B; Gursansky, W

    2017-06-01

    Exposed cyanide-bearing solutions associated with gold and silver recovery processes in the mining industry pose a risk to wildlife that interact with these solutions. This has been documented with cyanide-bearing tailings storage facilities, however risks associated with heap leach facilities are poorly documented, monitored and audited. Gold and silver leaching heap leach facilities use cyanide, pH-stabilised, at concentrations deemed toxic to wildlife. Their design and management are known to result in exposed cyanide-bearing solutions that are accessible to and present a risk to wildlife. Monitoring of the presence of exposed solutions, wildlife interaction, interpretation of risks and associated wildlife deaths are poorly documented. This paper provides a list of critical monitoring criteria and attempts to predict wildlife guilds most at risk. Understanding the significance of risks to wildlife from exposed cyanide solutions is complex, involving seasonality, relative position of ponding, temporal nature of ponding, solution palatability, environmental conditions, in situ wildlife species inventory and provision of alternative drinking sources for wildlife. Although a number of heap leach operations are certified as complaint with the International Cyanide Management Code (Cyanide Code), these criteria are not considered by auditors nor has systematic monitoring regime data been published. Without systematic monitoring and further knowledge, wildlife deaths on heap leach facilities are likely to remain largely unrecorded. This has ramifications for those operations certified as compliance with the Cyanide Code. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  8. Thin-layer heap bioleaching of copper flotation tailings containing high levels of fine grains and microbial community succession analysis

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hao, Xiao-dong; Liang, Yi-li; Yin, Hua-qun; Liu, Hong-wei; Zeng, Wei-min; Liu, Xue-duan

    2017-04-01

    Thin-layer heap bioleaching of copper flotation tailings containing high levels of fine grains was carried out by mixed cultures on a small scale over a period of 210 d. Lump ores as a framework were loaded at the bottom of the ore heap. The overall copper leaching rates of tailings and lump ores were 57.10wt% and 65.52wt%, respectively. The dynamic shifts of microbial community structures about attached microorganisms were determined using the Illumina MiSeq sequencing platform based on 16S rRNA amplification strategy. The results indicated that chemolithotrophic genera Acidithiobacillus and Leptospirillum were always detected and dominated the microbial community in the initial and middle stages of the heap bioleaching process; both genera might be responsible for improving the copper extraction. However, Thermogymnomonas and Ferroplasma increased gradually in the final stage. Moreover, the effects of various physicochemical parameters and microbial community shifts on the leaching efficiency were further investigated and these associations provided some important clues for facilitating the effective application of bioleaching.

  9. 76 FR 60941 - Policy Regarding Submittal of Amendments for Processing of Equivalent Feed at Licensed Uranium...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-09-30

    ... State-licensed uranium recovery site, either conventional, heap leach, or in situ recovery. DATES... types of new uranium recovery facilities (conventional mills, heap leach facilities, and in situ... from the ground for processing at a mill. Rather, the ore is processed in-situ with the resulting...

  10. Microbial communities from different subsystems in biological heap leaching system play different roles in iron and sulfur metabolisms.

    PubMed

    Xiao, Yunhua; Liu, Xueduan; Ma, Liyuan; Liang, Yili; Niu, Jiaojiao; Gu, Yabing; Zhang, Xian; Hao, Xiaodong; Dong, Weiling; She, Siyuan; Yin, Huaqun

    2016-08-01

    The microbial communities are important for minerals decomposition in biological heap leaching system. However, the differentiation and relationship of composition and function of microbial communities between leaching heap (LH) and leaching solution (LS) are still unclear. In this study, 16S rRNA gene sequencing was used to assess the microbial communities from the two subsystems in ZiJinShan copper mine (Fujian province, China). Results of PCoA and dissimilarity test showed that microbial communities in LH samples were significantly different from those in LS samples. The dominant genera of LH was Acidithiobacillus (57.2 ∼ 87.9 %), while Leptospirillum (48.6 ∼ 73.7 %) was predominant in LS. Environmental parameters (especially pH) were the major factors to influence the composition and structure of microbial community by analysis of Mantel tests. Results of functional test showed that microbial communities in LH utilized sodium thiosulfate more quickly and utilized ferrous sulfate more slowly than those in LS, which further indicated that the most sulfur-oxidizing processes of bioleaching took place in LH and the most iron-oxidizing processes were in LS. Further study found that microbial communities in LH had stronger pyrite leaching ability, and iron extraction efficiency was significantly positively correlated with Acidithiobacillus (dominated in LH), which suggested that higher abundance ratio of sulfur-oxidizing microbes might in favor of minerals decomposition. Finally, a conceptual model was designed through the above results to better exhibit the sulfur and iron metabolism in bioleaching systems.

  11. Microbial leaching of toxic metals and arsenic from a heap consisting of heavily polluted soil

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Groudev, Stoyan; Georgiev, Plamen; Spasova, Irena; Nicolova, Marina

    2014-05-01

    Soil heavily polluted with toxic heavy metals (mainly Cu, Zn, Cd) and arsenic was subjected to microbial cleanup in a heap specially constructed for this purpose. The heap was located on an impermeable geomembrane, had the shape of a truncated pyramid and contained about 240 tons of soil collected mainly from the horizon A. The soil was highly acidic (with an initial pH of about 3.2) and was preliminarily crushed to minus 2.5 cm particle size. The pollutants were present mainly as the relevant sulphide minerals and the soil was inhabited by different microorganisms, including some acidophilic chemolithotrophic bacteria able to oxidize sulphides and to solubilize the relevant toxic elements. The heap possessed systems for irrigation and aeration and was surrounded by ditches to collect the drainage heap effluents containing the dissolved pollutants. The treatment of the soil was carried out by means of interrupted irrigation with leach solutions containing diluted sulphuric acid (to maintain pH in the heap within the range of about 2.5 - 2.8) and ammonium and phosphate ions to maintain the microbial growth. The treatment was carried out for a period of about two years during different climatic seasons. After the end of leaching the soil was subjected to some conventional melioration procedures such as liming, grassing, moulching, addition of fertilizers and animal manure and periodic ploughing and irrigation to increase its quality to levels suitable for agricultural utilization.

  12. Cyanide

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Creekmore, Lynn H.

    1999-01-01

    Cyanide poisoning of birds is caused by exposure to cyanide in two forms: inorganic salts and hydrogen cyanide gas (HCN). Two sources of cyanide have been associated with bird mortalities: gold and silver mines that use cyanide in the extraction process and a predator control device called the M-44 sodium cyanide ejector, which uses cyanide as the toxic agent.Most of the cyanide mortality documented in birds is a result of exposure to cyanide used in heap leach and carbonin-pulp mill gold or silver mining processes. At these mines, the animals are exposed when they ingest water that contains cyanide salts used in mining processes or, possibly, when they inhale HCN gas. In heap leach mining operations, the ore is placed on an impermeable pad over which a cyanide solution is sprayed or dripped. The cyanide solution dissolves and attaches to or “leaches out” the gold. The cyanide and gold solution is then drained to a plastic-lined pond, which is commonly called the pregnant pond. The gold is extracted, and the remaining solution is moved into another lined pond, which is commonly called the barren pond. The cyanide concentration in this pond is increased so that the solution is again suitable for use in the leaching process, and the solution is used again on the ore heap (Fig. 46.1). Bird use of the HCN-contaminated water in the ponds (Fig. 46.2) or contaminated water on or at the base of the heap leach pads (Fig. 46.3) can result in mortality.

  13. Dynamic of active microorganisms inhabiting a bioleaching industrial heap of low‐grade copper sulfide ore monitored by real‐time PCR and oligonucleotide prokaryotic acidophile microarray

    PubMed Central

    Remonsellez, Francisco; Galleguillos, Felipe; Moreno‐Paz, Mercedes; Parro, Víctor; Acosta, Mauricio; Demergasso, Cecilia

    2009-01-01

    Summary The bioleaching of metal sulfide has developed into a very important industrial process and understanding the microbial dynamic is key to advancing commercial bioleaching operations. Here we report the first quantitative description of the dynamic of active communities in an industrial bioleaching heap. Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans was the most abundant during the first part of the leaching cycle, while the abundance of Leptospirillum ferriphilum and Ferroplasma acidiphilum increased with age of the heap. Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans kept constant throughout the leaching cycle, and Firmicutes group showed a low and a patchy distribution in the heap. The Acidiphilium‐like bacteria reached their highest abundance corresponding to the amount of autotrophs. The active microorganisms in the leaching system were determined using two RNA‐based sensitive techniques. In most cases, the 16S rRNA copy numbers of At. ferrooxidans, L. ferriphilum, At. thiooxidans and F. acidiphilum, was concomitant with the DNA copy numbers, whereas Acidiphilium‐like bacteria and some Firmicutes members did not show a clear correlation between 16S rRNA accumulation and DNA copy numbers. However, the prokaryotic acidophile microarray (PAM) analysis showed active members of Alphaproteobacteria in all samples and of Sulfobacillus genus in older ones. Also, new active groups such as Actinobacteria and Acidobacterium genus were detected by PAM. The results suggest that changes during the leaching cycle in chemical and physical conditions, such as pH and Fe3+/Fe2+ ion rate, are primary factors shaping the microbial dynamic in the heap. PMID:21255296

  14. A Numerical Evaluation on the Viability of Heap Thermophilic Bioleaching of Chalcopyrite

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Vilcaez, J.; Suto, K.; Inoue, C.

    2007-03-01

    The present numerical evaluation explores into the interactions among the many variables governing the mass and heat transport processes that take place in a heap thermophilic bioleaching system. The necessity of using mesophiles together with thermophiles is proved by tracing the activity of both microorganisms individually at each point throughout the heap. The role of key variables such as the fraction of FeS2 per CuFeS2 leached was quantified and its importance highlighted. In this evaluation, the heat transfer process plays the main role because of the heat accumulation required to maintain the heap temperature within the range of 60 °C to 80 °C where thermophilic microorganisms are capable of completing the unfinished dissolution of copper started by mesophilic microorganisms at 30 °C. The evaluation was done taking into consideration: biological activity as function of the temperature in the heap, heat loss due to conduction and advection from the top and bottom of the heap, and mass transfer between the gas and liquid phases as a function of temperature. The exothermic nature of the leaching reactions of CuFeS2 and FeS2 makes the system auto-thermal.

  15. Explosion-assisted preparation of dispersed gold-bearing different-grade ore for selective mining

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Trubachev, AI; Zykov, NV

    2017-02-01

    It is found that there are transient zones (between quality and off-quality ore areas) with the respective content of useful component in an ore body, and a variant of explosive treatment of such zones before the selective mining is put forward. Practicability of two processing technologies is evaluated: processing of high-grade and low-grade ore from the transient zones and heap leaching of metals from the low-grade and impoverished ore. Open mining technology is conventional truck-and-shovel scheme, with distributed ore flows to processing plant and (or) to heap leaching, which generally enhances the mine efficiency.

  16. Small-scale and large-scale testing of photo-electrochemically activated leaching technology in Aprelkovo and Delmachik Mines

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sekisov, AG; Lavrov, AYu; Rubtsov, YuI

    2017-02-01

    The paper gives a description of tests and trials of the technology of heap gold leaching from rebellious ore in Aprelkovo and Delmachik Mines. Efficiency of leaching flowsheets with the stage-wise use of activated solutions of different reagents, including active forms of oxygen, is evaluated. Carbonate-peroxide solutions are used at the first stage of leaching to oxidize sulfide and sulfide-arsenide ore minerals to recover iron and copper from them. The second stage leaching uses active cyanide solutions to leach encapsulated and disperse gold and silver.

  17. Novel Binders and Methods for Agglomeration of Ore

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    S. K. Kawatra; T. C. Eisele; K. A. Lewandowski

    2006-12-31

    Many metal extraction operations, such as leaching of copper, leaching of precious metals, and reduction of metal oxides to metal in high-temperature furnaces, require agglomeration of ore to ensure that reactive liquids or gases are evenly distributed throughout the ore being processed. Agglomeration of ore into coarse, porous masses achieves this even distribution of fluids by preventing fine particles from migrating and clogging the spaces and channels between the larger ore particles. Binders are critically necessary to produce agglomerates that will not break down during processing. However, for many important metal extraction processes there are no binders known that willmore » work satisfactorily. Primary examples of this are copper heap leaching, where there are no binders that will work in the acidic environment encountered in this process, and advanced ironmaking processes, where binders must function satisfactorily over an extraordinarily large range of temperatures (from room temperature up to over 1200 C). As a result, operators of many facilities see a large loss of process efficiency due to their inability to take advantage of agglomeration. The large quantities of ore that must be handled in metal extraction processes also means that the binder must be inexpensive and useful at low dosages to be economical. The acid-resistant binders and agglomeration procedures developed in this project will also be adapted for use in improving the energy efficiency and performance of a broad range of mineral agglomeration applications, particularly heap leaching and advanced primary ironmaking. This project has identified several acid-resistant binders and agglomeration procedures that can be used for improving the energy efficiency of heap leaching, by preventing the ''ponding'' and ''channeling'' effects that currently cause reduced recovery and extended leaching cycle times. Methods have also been developed for iron ore processing which are intended to improve the performance of pellet binders, and have directly saved energy by increasing filtration rates of the pelletization feed by as much as 23%.« less

  18. 40 CFR 440.103 - Effluent limitations representing the degree of effluent reduction attainable by the application...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... that use dump, heap, in situ leach or vat-leach processes to extract copper from ores or ore waste... achievable (BAT). Except as provided in subpart L of this part and 40 CFR 125.30 through 125.32, any existing... achievable (BAT): (a) The concentration of pollutants discharged in mine drainage from mines that produce...

  19. 40 CFR 440.102 - Effluent limitations representing the degree of effluent reduction attainable by the application...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... which employ dump, heap, in situ leach or vat leach processes for the extraction of copper from ores or... (BPT). Except as provided in subpart L of this part and 40 CFR 125.30 through 125.32, any existing... currently available (BPT): (a) The concentration of pollutants discharged in mine drainage from mines...

  20. 40 CFR 440.103 - Effluent limitations representing the degree of effluent reduction attainable by the application...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... that use dump, heap, in situ leach or vat-leach processes to extract copper from ores or ore waste... economically achievable (BAT). Except as provided in subpart L of this part and 40 CFR 125.30 through 125.32... economically achievable (BAT): (a) The concentration of pollutants discharged in mine drainage from mines that...

  1. 40 CFR 440.100 - Applicability; description of the copper, lead, zinc, gold, silver, and molybdenum ores subcategory.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... process alone or in conjunction with other processes, for the beneficiation of copper, lead, zinc, gold, silver, or molybdenum ores, or any combination of these ores; (3) Mines and mills that use dump, heap, in-situ leach, or vat-leach processes to extract copper from ores or ore waste materials; and (4) Mills...

  2. 40 CFR 440.100 - Applicability; description of the copper, lead, zinc, gold, silver, and molybdenum ores subcategory.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... any combination of these ores; (3) Mines and mills that use dump, heap, in-situ leach, or vat-leach... operations other than placer deposits; (2) Mills that use the froth-flotation process alone or in conjunction... not apply to discharges from the Quartz Hill Molybdenum Project in the Tongass National Forest, Alaska...

  3. 40 CFR 440.102 - Effluent limitations representing the degree of effluent reduction attainable by the application...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... which employ dump, heap, in situ leach or vat leach processes for the extraction of copper from ores or... (BPT). Except as provided in subpart L of this part and 40 CFR 125.30 through 125.32, any existing... currently available (BPT): (a) The concentration of pollutants discharged in mine drainage from mines...

  4. 40 CFR 440.100 - Applicability; description of the copper, lead, zinc, gold, silver, and molybdenum ores subcategory.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... any combination of these ores; (3) Mines and mills that use dump, heap, in-situ leach, or vat-leach... operations other than placer deposits; (2) Mills that use the froth-flotation process alone or in conjunction... not apply to discharges from the Quartz Hill Molybdenum Project in the Tongass National Forest, Alaska...

  5. 40 CFR 440.102 - Effluent limitations representing the degree of effluent reduction attainable by the application...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... which employ dump, heap, in situ leach or vat leach processes for the extraction of copper from ores or... as provided in subpart L of this part and 40 CFR 125.30 through 125.32, any existing point source... available (BPT): (a) The concentration of pollutants discharged in mine drainage from mines operated to...

  6. 40 CFR 440.103 - Effluent limitations representing the degree of effluent reduction attainable by the application...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... that use dump, heap, in situ leach or vat-leach processes to extract copper from ores or ore waste... economically achievable (BAT). Except as provided in subpart L of this part and 40 CFR 125.30 through 125.32... economically achievable (BAT): (a) The concentration of pollutants discharged in mine drainage from mines that...

  7. 40 CFR 440.100 - Applicability; description of the copper, lead, zinc, gold, silver, and molybdenum ores subcategory.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... process alone or in conjunction with other processes, for the beneficiation of copper, lead, zinc, gold, silver, or molybdenum ores, or any combination of these ores; (3) Mines and mills that use dump, heap, in-situ leach, or vat-leach processes to extract copper from ores or ore waste materials; and (4) Mills...

  8. 40 CFR 440.102 - Effluent limitations representing the degree of effluent reduction attainable by the application...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... which employ dump, heap, in situ leach or vat leach processes for the extraction of copper from ores or... as provided in subpart L of this part and 40 CFR 125.30 through 125.32, any existing point source... available (BPT): (a) The concentration of pollutants discharged in mine drainage from mines operated to...

  9. 40 CFR 440.100 - Applicability; description of the copper, lead, zinc, gold, silver, and molybdenum ores subcategory.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... process alone or in conjunction with other processes, for the beneficiation of copper, lead, zinc, gold, silver, or molybdenum ores, or any combination of these ores; (3) Mines and mills that use dump, heap, in-situ leach, or vat-leach processes to extract copper from ores or ore waste materials; and (4) Mills...

  10. 40 CFR 440.103 - Effluent limitations representing the degree of effluent reduction attainable by the application...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... that use dump, heap, in situ leach or vat-leach processes to extract copper from ores or ore waste... achievable (BAT). Except as provided in subpart L of this part and 40 CFR 125.30 through 125.32, any existing... achievable (BAT): (a) The concentration of pollutants discharged in mine drainage from mines that produce...

  11. Fate of process solution cyanide and nitrate at three nevada gold mines inferred from stable carbon and nitrogen isotope measurements

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Johnson, C.A.; Grimes, D.J.; Rye, R.O.

    2000-01-01

    Stable isotope methods have been used to identify the mechanisms responsible for cyanide consumption at three heap-leach operations that process Carlin-type gold ores in Nevada, U.S.A. The reagent cyanide had ??15N values ranging from -5 to -2??? and ??13C values from -60 to -35???. The wide ??13C range reflects the use by different suppliers of isotopically distinct natural-gas feedstocks and indicates that isotopes may be useful in environmental studies where there is a need to trace cyanide sources. In heap-leach circuits displaying from 5 to 98% consumption of cyanide, barren-solution and pregnant-solution cyanide were isotopically indistinguishable. The similarity is inconsistent with cyanide loss predominantly by HCN offgassing (a process that in laboratory experiments caused substantial isotopic changes), but it is consistent with cyanide retention within the heaps as solids, a process that caused minimal isotopic changes in laboratory simulations, or with cyanide oxidation, which also appears to cause minimal changes. In many pregnant solutions cyanide was carried entirely as metal complexes, which is consistent with ferrocyanides having precipitated or cyanocomplexes having been adsorbed within the heaps. It is inferred that gaseous cyanide emissions from operations of this type are less important than has generally been thought and that the dissolution or desorption kinetics of solid species is an important control on cyanide elution when the spent heaps undergo rinsing. Nitrate, nitrite and ammonium had ??15N values of 1-16???. The data reflect isotopic fractionation during ammonia offgassing or denitrification of nitrate - particularly in reclaim ponds - but do not indicate the extent to which nitrate is derived from cyanide or from explosive residues. ?? The Institution of Mining and Metallurgy 2000.

  12. Publications - SR 51 | Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys

    Science.gov Websites

    & Geophysical Surveys Comments: Your help is crucial in the compilation of future Alaska Minerals Resources; Fluorine; Geophysics; Germanium; Gold; Heap Leach; Iron; Jade; Lead; Lode; Mercury; Minerals

  13. Linking leach chemistry and microbiology of low-grade copper ore bioleaching at different temperatures

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jia, Yan; Sun, He-yun; Tan, Qiao-yi; Gao, Hong-shan; Feng, Xing-liang; Ruan, Ren-man

    2018-03-01

    The effects of temperature on chalcocite/pyrite oxidation and the microbial population in the bioleaching columns of a low-grade chalcocite ore were investigated in this study. Raffinate from the industrial bioleaching heap was used as an irrigation solution for columns operated at 20, 30, 45, and 60°C. The dissolution of copper and iron were investigated during the bioleaching processes, and the microbial community was revealed by using a high-throughput sequencing method. The genera of Ferroplasma, Acidithiobacillus, Leptospirillum, Acidiplasma, and Sulfobacillus dominated the microbial community, and the column at a higher temperature favored the growth of moderate thermophiles. Even though microbial abundance and activity were highest at 30°C, the column at a higher temperature achieved a much higher Cu leaching efficiency and recovery, which suggested that the promotion of chemical oxidation by elevated temperature dominated the dissolution of Cu. The highest pyrite oxidation percentage was detected at 45°C. Higher temperature resulted in precipitation of jarosite in columns, especially at 60°C. The results gave implications to the optimization of heap bioleaching of secondary copper sulfide in both enhanced chalcocite leaching and acid/iron balance, from the perspective of leaching temperature and affected microbial community and activity.

  14. NOVEL BINDERS AND METHODS FOR AGGLOMERATION OF ORE

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    S.K. Kawatra; T.C. Eisele; J.A. Gurtler

    2005-04-01

    Many metal extraction operations, such as leaching of copper, leaching of precious metals, and reduction of metal oxides to metal in high-temperature furnaces, require agglomeration of ore to ensure that reactive liquids or gases are evenly distributed throughout the ore being processed. Agglomeration of ore into coarse, porous masses achieves this even distribution of fluids by preventing fine particles from migrating and clogging the spaces and channels between the larger ore particles. Binders are critically necessary to produce agglomerates that will not breakdown during processing. However, for many important metal extraction processes there are no binders known that will workmore » satisfactorily. Primary examples of this are copper heap leaching, where there are no binders that will work in the acidic environment encountered in this process. As a result, operators of many facilities see large loss of process efficiency due to their inability to take advantage of agglomeration. The large quantities of ore that must be handled in metal extraction processes also means that the binder must be inexpensive and useful at low dosages to be economical. The acid-resistant binders and agglomeration procedures developed in this project will also be adapted for use in improving the energy efficiency and performance of a broad range of mineral agglomeration applications, particularly heap leaching.« less

  15. Novel Binders and Methods for Agglomeration of Ore

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    S. K. Kawatra; T. C. Eisele; J. A. Gurtler

    2004-03-31

    Many metal extraction operations, such as leaching of copper, leaching of precious metals, and reduction of metal oxides to metal in high-temperature furnaces, require agglomeration of ore to ensure that reactive liquids or gases are evenly distributed throughout the ore being processed. Agglomeration of ore into coarse, porous masses achieves this even distribution of fluids by preventing fine particles from migrating and clogging the spaces and channels between the larger ore particles. Binders are critically necessary to produce agglomerates that will not break down during processing. However, for many important metal extraction processes there are no binders known that willmore » work satisfactorily. A primary example of this is copper heap leaching, where there are no binders that will work in the acidic environment encountered in this process. As a result, operators of acidic heap-leach facilities see a large loss of process efficiency due to their inability to take advantage of agglomeration. The large quantities of ore that must be handled in metal extraction processes also means that the binder must be inexpensive and useful at low dosages to be economical. The acid-resistant binders and agglomeration procedures developed in this project will also be adapted for use in improving the energy efficiency and performance of other agglomeration applications, particularly advanced primary ironmaking.« less

  16. Fluorescein Dye Penetration in Round Top Rhyolite (Hudspeth County, Texas, USA) to Reveal Micro-permeability and Optimize Grain Size for Heavy REE Heap Leach

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Negron, L. M.; Clague, J. W.; Gorski, D.; Amaya, M. A.; Pingitore, N. E.

    2013-12-01

    Millimeter- and micrometer-scale permeability of fine-grained igneous rocks has generated limited research interest. Nonetheless, the scale and distribution of such micro-permeability determines fluid penetration and pathways, parameters that define both the ability to heap leach a rock and the optimal grain size for such an operation. Texas Rare Earth Resources is evaluating the possibility of heap leaching of yttrium and heavy rare earth elements (YHREE) from the peraluminous rhyolite laccolith that forms one-mile-diameter Round Top Mountain. The YHREEs in this immense, surface-exposed deposit (minimum 1.6 billion tons, Texas Bureau Economic Geology) are dilute and diffuse, suggesting leaching as the best option for recovery. The REE grade is 0.05% and YHREEs comprise more than 70% of the total REE content. The YHREEs are hosted exclusively in micron-scale yttrofluorite grains, which proved soluble in dilute sulfuric acid. Laboratory experiments showed YHREE recoveries of up to 90%. Within limits, recoveries decrease with larger grain sizes, and increase with acid strength and exposure time. Our research question centers on dissolution effectiveness: Is YHREE recovery, relative to grain size, limited by (1) diffusion time of acid into, and dissolved solids, including YHREEs, out of the micro-permeability paths inherent in the rock particles; (2) the effective lengths of the natural micro-permeability paths in the rock; or (3) the putative role of the acid in dissolving new micro-paths into the grains? The maximum grain size should not exceed twice the typical path length (unless acid creates new paths), lest YHREEs in the core of a larger grain than that not be reached by acid. If instead diffusion time is limiting, longer leach time may prove effective. Rather than perform an extensive and expensive series of laboratory leaching experiments--some of which would be several months in duration--to determine optimal grain size, we developed a technique to efficiently determine the limits of penetration of water into the rhyolite. We cut parallel-sided slabs of Round Top rhyolite at staged thickness up to 10 mm. We then wet one side and view the opposite side over time under UV light to detect breakthrough of the fluorescein dye. Because of its extremely low visual detection limits, well below the ppm level, the dye has been widely used in biochemical research, as a tracer in surface and ground water studies, in delineating invisible cracks in such structural material as motor blocks, and in detecting corneal abrasions. We have been successful in detecting breakthrough at different rhyolite thicknesses. Continuing studies focus on mapping of the 2-dimensional distribution of the permeability via hand lens and low-power microscope; use of visible light dyes; and examination of specimens pre- and post-acid leaching to determine whether acid exposure produced significant new micro-permeability.

  17. Geological and technological evaluation of gold-bearing mineral material after photo-electrochemical activation leaching

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Manzyrev, DV

    2017-02-01

    The paper reports the lab test results on simulation of heap leaching of unoxidized rebellious ore extracted from deep levels of Pogromnoe open pit mine, with different flowsheets and photo-electrochemically activated solutions. It has been found that pre-treatment of rebellious ore particles -10 mm in size by photo-electrochemically activated solutions at the stage preceding agglomeration with the use of rich cyanide solutions enhances gold recovery by 6%.

  18. The Effect of Initial Irrigation Conditions on Heap Leaching Efficiency

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Briseño Arellano, A. D.; Milczarek, M.; Yao, M.; Brusseau, M. L. L.

    2017-12-01

    Heap leaching is an unsaturated flow metal recovery process, in which mined ore is irrigated with a lixiviant to dissolve metal contained in the ore. The metal is then extracted from solution. Large scale operations involve stacking ore to depths of 6 to 18 meters on pads that may be hundreds of hectares in area. Heterogeneities within the stacked ore can lead to uneven wetting and the formation of preferential flow pathways, which reduces solution contact and lowers metal recovery. Furthermore, mineral dissolution can cause alteration of the porous media structure and loss of ore permeability. Many mine operators believe that slow initial irrigation rates help minimize permeability loss and increase metal recovery rates. However, this phenomenon has not been studied in detail. Experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of varying initial irrigation rates on leach ore stability. These were conducted with large columns (1.5 m high, 0.5 m in diameter) packed with crushed ore samples that are known to have permeability constraints. The columns were highly instrumented to assess potential changes in material properties both spatially and temporally. Water content was measured with three different methods: capacitance soil moisture sensors placed at 20-cm intervals; a neutron probe to periodically log every 30 cm from four different directions; and electrical resistivity sensors to create a 2-dimensional tomography profile of water content over time. Tensiometers were paired with the soil moisture sensors to measure matric suction and characterize moisture retention characteristics. A non-reactive tracer was used to characterize advective-dispersive transport under unsaturated conditions. A dye solution was introduced at the end of each experiment to map preferential pathways. Continuous monitoring of settling at the surface assisted in measuring consolidation and loss in permeability.

  19. EVALUATION OF FLOW AND SOLUTE TRANSPORT PARAMETERS FOR HEAP LEACH RECOVERY MATERIALS. (R825289)

    EPA Science Inventory

    The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Concl...

  20. Cyanide and migratory birds at gold mines in Nevada, USA

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Henny, C.J.; Hallock, R.J.; Hill, E.F.

    1994-01-01

    Since the mid-1980s, cyanide in heap leach solutions and mill tailings ponds at gold mines in Nevada has killed a large but incompletely documented number of wildlife ( gt 9,500 individuals, primarily migratory birds). This field investigation documents the availability of cyanide at a variety of 'typical' Nevada gold mines during 1990 and 1991, describes wildlife reactions to cyanide solutions, and discusses procedures for eliminating wildlife loss from cyanide poisoning. Substantial progress has been made to reduce wildlife loss. About half of the mill tailings ponds (some up to 150 ha) in Nevada have been chemically treated to reduce cyanide concentrations (the number needing treatment is uncertain) and many of the smaller heap leach solution ponds and channels are now covered with netting to exclude birds and most mammals. The discovery of a cyanide gradient in mill tailings ponds (concentration usually 2-3 times higher at the inflow point than at reclaim point) provides new insight into wildlife responses (mortality) observed in different portions of the ponds. Finding dead birds on the tops of ore heaps and associated with solution puddling is a new problem, but management procedures for eliminating this source of mortality are available. A safe threshold concentration of cyanide to eliminate wildlife loss could not be determined from the field data and initial laboratory studies. New analytical methods may be required to assess further the wildlife hazard of cyanide in mining solutions.

  1. Use of an acidophilic yeast strain to enable the growth of leaching bacteria on solid media.

    PubMed

    Ngom, Baba; Liang, Yili; Liu, Yi; Yin, Huaqun; Liu, Xueduan

    2015-03-01

    In this study, a Candida digboiensis strain was isolated from a heap leaching plant in Zambia and used in double-layer agar plate to efficiently isolate and purify leaching bacteria. Unlike Acidiphilium sp., the yeast strain was tetrathionate tolerant and could metabolize a great range of organic compounds including organic acids. These properties allowed the yeast strain to enable and fasten the growth of iron and sulfur oxidizers on double-layer agar plate. The isolates were identified as Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans FOX1, Leptospirillun ferriphilum BN, and Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans ZMB. These three leaching bacteria were inhibited by organic acids such as acetic and propionic acids; however, their activities were enhanced by Candida digboiensis NB under dissolved organic matter stress.

  2. Novel Binders and Methods for Agglomeration of Ore

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    S. K. Kawatra; T. C. Eisele; K. A. Lewandowski

    2006-03-31

    Many metal extraction operations, such as leaching of copper, leaching of precious metals, and reduction of metal oxides to metal in high-temperature furnaces, require agglomeration of ore to ensure that reactive liquids or gases are evenly distributed throughout the ore being processed. Agglomeration of ore into coarse, porous masses achieves this even distribution of fluids by preventing fine particles from migrating and clogging the spaces and channels between the larger ore particles. Binders are critically necessary to produce agglomerates that will not break down during processing. However, for many important metal extraction processes there are no binders known that willmore » work satisfactorily at a reasonable cost. A primary example of this is copper heap leaching, where there are no binders currently encountered in this acidic environment process. As a result, operators of many facilities see a large loss of process efficiency due to their inability to take advantage of agglomeration. The large quantities of ore that must be handled in metal extraction processes also means that the binder must be inexpensive and useful at low dosages to be economical. The acid-resistant binders and agglomeration procedures developed in this project will also be adapted for use in improving the energy efficiency and performance of a broad range of mineral agglomeration applications, particularly heap leaching. The active involvement of our industrial partners will help to ensure rapid commercialization of any agglomeration technologies developed by this project.« less

  3. Novel Binders and Methods for Agglomeration of Ore

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    S. K. Kawatra; T. C. Eisele; J. A. Gurtler

    2005-09-30

    Many metal extraction operations, such as leaching of copper, leaching of precious metals, and reduction of metal oxides to metal in high-temperature furnaces, require agglomeration of ore to ensure that reactive liquids or gases are evenly distributed throughout the ore being processed. Agglomeration of ore into coarse, porous masses achieves this even distribution of fluids by preventing fine particles from migrating and clogging the spaces and channels between the larger ore particles. Binders are critically necessary to produce agglomerates that will not break down during processing. However, for many important metal extraction processes there are no binders known that willmore » work satisfactorily at a reasonable cost. A primary example of this is copper heap leaching, where there are no binders currently encountered in this acidic environment process. As a result, operators of many facilities see a large loss of process efficiency due to their inability to take advantage of agglomeration. The large quantities of ore that must be handled in metal extraction processes also means that the binder must be inexpensive and useful at low dosages to be economical. The acid-resistant binders and agglomeration procedures developed in this project will also be adapted for use in improving the energy efficiency and performance of a broad range of mineral agglomeration applications, particularly heap leaching. The active involvement of our industrial partners will help to ensure rapid commercialization of any agglomeration technologies developed by this project.« less

  4. NOVEL BINDERS AND METHODS FOR AGGLOMERATION OF ORE

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    S.K. Kawatra; T.C. Eisele; J.A. Gurtler

    2004-04-01

    Many metal extraction operations, such as leaching of copper, leaching of precious metals, and reduction of metal oxides to metal in high-temperature furnaces, require agglomeration of ore to ensure that reactive liquids or gases are evenly distributed throughout the ore being processed. Agglomeration of ore into coarse, porous masses achieves this even distribution of fluids by preventing fine particles from migrating and clogging the spaces and channels between the larger ore particles. Binders are critically necessary to produce agglomerates that will not break down during processing. However, for many important metal extraction processes there are no binders known that willmore » work satisfactorily. Primary examples of this are copper heap leaching, where there are no binders that will work in the acidic environment encountered in this process, and advanced ironmaking processes, where binders must function satisfactorily over an extraordinarily large range of temperatures (from room temperature up to over 1200 C). As a result, operators of many facilities see a large loss of process efficiency due to their inability to take advantage of agglomeration. The large quantities of ore that must be handled in metal extraction processes also means that the binder must be inexpensive and useful at low dosages to be economical. The acid-resistant binders and agglomeration procedures developed in this project will also be adapted for use in improving the energy efficiency and performance of a broad range of mineral agglomeration applications, particularly heap leaching and advanced primary ironmaking.« less

  5. 76 FR 45300 - Notice of Issuance of Materials License SUA-1597 and Record of Decision for Uranerz Energy...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-07-28

    ... considered but eliminated from detailed analysis include conventional uranium mining and milling, conventional mining and heap leach processing, alternative site location, alternate lixiviants, and alternate...'s Agencywide Document Access and Management System (ADAMS), which provides text and image files of...

  6. DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF AN EXPERIMENT FOR ASSESSING CYANIDE IN GOLD MINING WASTES

    EPA Science Inventory

    Gold mining wastes treated by heap leaching cyanidization typically contain several metallo-cyanide species. Accurate measurement of total cyanide by the most common methods in such a case may be hampered by the inadequate recoveries that occur for certain cyanide compounds (e.g....

  7. Increasing flux rate to shorten leaching period and ramp-up production

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ngantung, Billy; Agustin, Riska; Ravi'i

    2017-01-01

    J Resources Bolaang Mongondow (JBRM) has operated a dynamic heap leach in its Bakan Gold Mine since late 2013. After successfully surpassing its name plate capacity of 2.6 MT/annum in 2014, the clayey and transition ore become the next operational challenge. The presence of transition and clayey ore requires longer leaching period, hence reducing the leach pad capacity which then caused reduced production. Maintaining or even increasing production with such longer leaching ore types can be done by expanding the leach pad area which means an additional capital investment, and/or shortening the leaching cycle which compromise a portion of gold extraction. JBRM has been successfully increasing the leach pad production from 2.6 MT/annum to 3.8 MT/annum, whilst improving the gold extraction from around 70% to around 80%. This was achieved by managing the operation of the leach pad which is shortening the leach cycle by identifying and combining the optimal flux rate application versus the tonne processed in each cell, at no capital investment for expanding the cell capacity.

  8. Mineral-leaching chemical transport with runoff and sediment from severely eroded rare-earth tailings in southern China

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lu, Huizhong; Cao, Longxi; Liang, Yin; Yuan, Jiuqin; Zhu, Yayun; Wang, Yi; Gu, Yalan; Zhao, Qiguo

    2017-08-01

    Rare-earth mining has led to severe soil erosion in southern China. Furthermore, the presence of the mineral-leaching chemical ammonium sulfate in runoff and sediment poses a serious environmental threat to downstream water bodies. In this paper, the characteristics of mineral-leaching chemicals in surface soil samples collected in the field were studied. In addition, NH4+ and SO42- transport via soil erosion was monitored using runoff and sediment samples collected during natural rainfall processes. The results demonstrated that the NH4+ contents in the surface sediment deposits increased from the top of the heap (6.56 mg kg-1) to the gully (8.23 mg kg-1) and outside the tailing heap (13.03 mg kg-1). The contents of SO42- in the different locations of the tailing heaps ranged from 27.71 to 40.33 mg kg-1. During typical rainfall events, the absorbed NH4+ concentrations (2.05, 1.26 mg L-1) in runoff were significantly higher than the dissolved concentrations (0.93, 1.04 mg L-1), while the absorbed SO42- concentrations (2.87, 1.92 mg L-1) were significantly lower than the dissolved concentrations (6.55, 7.51 mg L-1). The dissolved NH4+ and SO42- concentrations in runoff displayed an exponentially decreasing tendency with increasing transport distance (Y = 1. 02 ṡ exp( - 0. 00312X); Y = 3. 34 ṡ exp( - 0. 0185X)). No clear trend with increasing distance was observed for the absorbed NH4+ and SO42- contents in transported sediment. The NH4+ and SO42- contents had positive correlations with the silt and clay ratio in transported sediment but negative correlations with the sand ratio. These results provide a better understanding of the transport processes and can be used to develop equations to predict the transport of mineral-leaching chemicals in rare-earth tailings, which can provide a scientific foundation for erosion control and soil management in rare-earth tailing regions in southern China.

  9. 76 FR 53500 - Notice of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Issuance of Materials License SUA-1598 and Record of...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-08-26

    ... (ADAMS), which provides text and image files of the NRC's public documents in the NRC Library at http... considered, but eliminated from detailed analysis, include conventional uranium mining and milling, conventional mining and heap leach processing, alternate lixiviants, and alternative wastewater disposal...

  10. 76 FR 52688 - Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the Sheep Mountain Uranium...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-08-23

    ... project employing open pit and underground mining methods and using heap leach methods for uranium...] Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the Sheep Mountain Uranium Project... comments regarding issues and resource information for the proposed Sheep Mountain Uranium Project (the...

  11. Current scenario of chalcopyrite bioleaching: a review on the recent advances to its heap-leach technology.

    PubMed

    Panda, Sandeep; Akcil, Ata; Pradhan, Nilotpala; Deveci, Haci

    2015-11-01

    Chalcopyrite is the primary copper mineral used for production of copper metal. Today, as a result of rapid industrialization, there has been enormous demand to profitably process the low grade chalcopyrite and "dirty" concentrates through bioleaching. In the current scenario, heap bioleaching is the most advanced and preferred eco-friendly technology for processing of low grade, uneconomic/difficult-to-enrich ores for copper extraction. This paper reviews the current status of chalcopyrite bioleaching. Advanced information with the attempts made for understanding the diversity of bioleaching microorganisms; role of OMICs based research for future applications to industrial sectors and chemical/microbial aspects of chalcopyrite bioleaching is discussed. Additionally, the current progress made to overcome the problems of passivation as seen in chalcopyrite bioleaching systems have been conversed. Furthermore, advances in the designing of heap bioleaching plant along with microbial and environmental factors of importance have been reviewed with conclusions into the future prospects of chalcopyrite bioleaching. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. 77 FR 22609 - Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed Pan Mine Project...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-04-16

    ... business hours. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Midway Gold US Inc. (Midway) proposes to construct and operate an open-pit gold mining operation, which would include open pits, a heap leach pad, waste rock dumps, and ancillary facilities. The mine would be located in the northern part of the Pancake Mountain Range...

  13. 78 FR 77706 - Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed Gemfield Mine...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-12-24

    ... gold mine and associated processing and ancillary facilities. The project would be located on public... media, newspapers and the BLM Web site at: http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/battle_mountain_field.html... to construct, operate, reclaim, and close an open pit, heap leach, gold mining operation known as the...

  14. A simplified economic filter for open-pit mining and heap-leach recovery of copper in the United States

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Long, Keith R.; Singer, Donald A.

    2001-01-01

    Determining the economic viability of mineral deposits of various sizes and grades is a critical task in all phases of mineral supply, from land-use management to mine development. This study evaluates two simple tools for estimating the economic viability of porphyry copper deposits mined by open-pit, heap-leach methods when only limited information on these deposits is available. These two methods are useful for evaluating deposits that either (1) are undiscovered deposits predicted by a mineral resource assessment, or (2) have been discovered but for which little data has been collected or released. The first tool uses ordinary least-squared regression analysis of cost and operating data from selected deposits to estimate a predictive relationship between mining rate, itself estimated from deposit size, and capital and operating costs. The second method uses cost models developed by the U.S. Bureau of Mines (Camm, 1991) updated using appropriate cost indices. We find that the cost model method works best for estimating capital costs and the empirical model works best for estimating operating costs for mines to be developed in the United States.

  15. Geology, geochemistry, and geophysics of the Fry Canyon uranium/copper project site, southeastern Utah - Indications of contaminant migration

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Otton, James K.; Zielinski, Robert A.; Horton, Robert J.

    2010-01-01

    The Fry Canyon uranium/copper project site in San Juan County, southeastern Utah, was affected by the historical (1957-68) processing of uranium and copper-uranium ores. Relict uranium tailings and related ponds, and a large copper heap-leach pile at the site represent point sources of uranium and copper to local soils, surface water, and groundwater. This study was designed to establish the nature, extent, and pathways of contaminant dispersion. The methods used in this study are applicable at other sites of uranium mining, milling, or processing. The uranium tailings and associated ponds sit on a bench that is as much as 4.25 meters above the level of the adjacent modern channel of Fry Creek. The copper heap leach pile sits on bedrock just south of this bench. Contaminated groundwater from the ponds and other nearby sites moves downvalley and enters the modern alluvium of adjacent Fry Creek, its surface water, and also a broader, deeper paleochannel that underlies the modern creek channel and adjacent benches and stream terraces. The northern extent of contaminated groundwater is uncertain from geochemical data beyond an area of monitoring wells about 300 meters north of the site. Contaminated surface water extends to the State highway bridge. Some uranium-contaminated groundwater may also enter underlying bedrock of the Permian Cedar Mesa Sandstone along fracture zones. Four dc-resistivity surveys perpendicular to the valley trend were run across the channel and its adjacent stream terraces north of the heap-leach pile and ponds. Two surveys were done in a small field of monitoring wells and two in areas untested by borings to the north of the well field. Bedrock intercepts, salt distribution, and lithologic information from the wells and surface observations in the well field aided interpretation of the geophysical profiles there and allowed interpretation of the two profiles not tested by wells. The geophysical data for the two profiles to the north of the well field suggest that the paleochannel persists at least 900 m to the north of the heap leach and pond sites. Contamination of groundwater beneath the stream terraces may extend at least that far. Fry Creek surface water (six samples), seeps and springs (six samples), and wells (eight samples) were collected during a dry period of April 16-19, 2007. The most uranium-rich (18.7 milligrams per liter) well water on the site displays distinctive Ca-Mg-SO4-dominant chemistry indicating the legacy of heap leaching copper-uranium ores with sulfuric acid. This same water has strongly negative d34S of sulfate (-13.3 per mil) compared to most local waters of -2.4 to -5.4 per mil. Dissolved uranium species in all sampled waters are dominantly U(VI)-carbonate complexes. All waters are undersaturated with respect to U(VI) minerals. The average 234U/238U activity ratio (AR) in four well waters from the site (0.939 + or ? 0.011) is different from that of seven upstream waters (1.235 + or ? 0.069). This isotopic contrast permits quantitative estimates of mixing of site-derived uranium with natural uranium in waters collected downstream. At the time of sampling, uranium in downstream surface water was mostly (about 67 percent) site-derived and subject to further concentration by evaporation. Three monitoring wells located approximately 0.4 kilometer downstream contained dominantly (78-87 percent) site-derived uranium. Distinctive particles of chalcopyrite (CuFeS) and variably weathered pyrite (FeS2) are present in tailings at the stream edge on the site and are identified in stream sediments 1.3 kilometers downstream, based on inspection of polished grain mounts of magnetic mineral separates.

  16. Cyanide hazards to plants and animals from gold mining and related water issues.

    PubMed

    Eisler, Ronald; Wiemeyer, Stanley N

    2004-01-01

    Cyanide extraction of gold through milling of high-grade ores and heap leaching of low-grade ores requires cycling of millions of liters of alkaline water containing high concentrations of potentially toxic sodium cyanide (NaCN), free cyanide, and metal-cyanide complexes. Some milling operations result in tailings ponds of 150 ha and larger. Heap leach operations that spray or drip cyanide onto the flattened top of the ore heap require solution processing ponds of about 1 ha in surface area. Puddles of various sizes may occur on the top of heaps, where the highest concentrations of NaCN are found. Solution recovery channels are usually constructed at the base of leach heaps, some of which may be exposed. All these cyanide-containing water bodies are hazardous to wildlife, especially migratory waterfowl and bats, if not properly managed. Accidental spills of cyanide solutions into rivers and streams have produced massive kills of fish and other aquatic biota. Freshwater fish are the most cyanide-sensitive group of aquatic organisms tested, with high mortality documented at free cyanide concentrations >20 microg/L and adverse effects on swimming and reproduction at >5 microg/L. Exclusion from cyanide solutions or reductions of cyanide concentrations to nontoxic levels are the only certain methods of protecting terrestrial vertebrate wildlife from cyanide poisoning; a variety of exclusion/cyanide reduction techniques are presented and discussed. Additional research is recommended on (1) effects of low-level, long-term, cyanide intoxication in birds and mammals by oral and inhalation routes in the vicinity of high cyanide concentrations; (2) long-term effects of low concentrations of cyanide on aquatic biota; (3) adaptive resistance to cyanide; and (4) usefulness of various biochemical indicators of cyanide poisoning. To prevent flooding in mine open pits, and to enable earth moving on a large scale, it is often necessary to withdraw groundwater and use it for irrigation, discharge it to rapid infiltration basins, or, in some cases, discharge it to surface waters. Surface waters are diverted around surface mining operations. Adverse effects of groundwater drawdown include formation of sinkholes within 5 km of groundwater drawdown; reduced stream flows with reduced quantities of wate available for irrigation, stock watering, and domestic, mining and milling, and municipal uses; reduction or loss of vegetation cover for wildlife, with reduced carrying capacity for terrestrial wildlife; loss of aquatic habitat for native fishes and their prey; and disruption of Native American cultural traditions. Surface discharge of excess mine dewatering water and other waters to main waterways may contain excess quantities of arsenic, total dissolved solids, boron, copper, fluoride, and zinc. When mining operations cease, and the water pumps are dismantled, these large open pits may slowly fill with water, forming lakes. The water quality of pit lakes may present a variety of pressing environmental problems.

  17. Advanced mercury removal from gold leachate solutions prior to gold and silver extraction: a field study from an active gold mine in Peru.

    PubMed

    Matlock, Matthew M; Howerton, Brock S; Van Aelstyn, Mike A; Nordstrom, Fredrik L; Atwood, David A

    2002-04-01

    Mercury contamination in the Gold-Cyanide Process (GCP) is a serious health and environmental problem. Following the heap leaching of gold and silver ores with NaCN solutions, portions of the mercury-cyano complexes often adhere to the activated carbon (AC) used to extract the gold. During the electrowinning and retorting steps, mercury can be (and often is) emitted to the air as a vapor. This poses a severe health hazard to plant workers and the local environment. Additional concerns relate to the safety of workers when handling the mercury-laden AC. Currently, mercury treatment from the heap leach solution is nonexistent. This is due to the fact that chelating ligands which can effectively work under the adverse pH conditions (as present in the heap leachate solutions) do not exist. In an effort to economically and effectively treat the leachate solution prior to passing over the AC, a dipotassium salt of 1,3-benzenediamidoethanethiol (BDET2-) has been developed to irreversibly bind and precipitate the mercury. The ligand has proven to be highly effective by selectively reducing mercury levels from average initial concentrations of 34.5 ppm (parts per million) to 0.014 ppm within 10 min and to 0.008 ppm within 15 min. X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR), Raman, and infrared (IR) spectroscopy demonstrate the formation of a mercury-ligand compound, which remains insoluble over pH ranges of 0.0-14.0. Leachate samples from an active gold mine in Peru have been analyzed using cold vapor atomic fluorescence (CVAF) and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) for metal concentrations before and after treatment with the BDET2- ligand.

  18. Model of heap formation in vibrated gravitational suspensions.

    PubMed

    Ebata, Hiroyuki; Sano, Masaki

    2015-11-01

    In vertically vibrated dense suspensions, several localized structures have been discovered, such as heaps, stable holes, expanding holes, and replicating holes. Because an inclined free fluid surface is difficult to maintain because of gravitational pressure, the mechanism of those structures is not understood intuitively. In this paper, as a candidate for the driving mechanism, we focus on the boundary condition on a solid wall: the slip-nonslip switching boundary condition in synchronization with vertical vibration. By applying the lubrication approximation, we derived the time evolution equation of the fluid thickness from the Oldroyd-B fluid model. In our model we show that the initially flat fluid layer becomes unstable in a subcritical manner, and heaps and convectional flow appear. The obtained results are consistent with those observed experimentally. We also find that heaps climb a slope when the bottom is slightly inclined. We show that viscoelasticity enhances heap formation and climbing of a heap on the slope.

  19. Lithium and Beryllium By-product Recovery from the Round Top Mountain, Texas, Peraluminous Rhyolite Heavy Rare Earth Deposit

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pingitore, N. E., Jr.; Clague, J. W.; Gorski, D.

    2016-12-01

    The technology metals Li and Be combine low mass and unique properties. Li batteries are critical in applications at scales from micro-electronics to automotive and grid storage. Low mass Be structural components are essential in aerospace/defense applications and in non-sparking BeCu alloy oilfield tools. Most Li is sourced from desert salarsin the "Lithium Triangle" of Argentina—Bolivia—Chile. In contrast, Materion Corp mines >80% of global Be at Spor Mountain, UT. The massive peraluminous rhyolite heavy rare earth deposit at Round Top Mountain, TX is also enriched in Li, 500 ppm, and Be, 50 ppm. 2016 prices of 7000/tonne Li2CO3 (19% Li) and 1000/kg Be metal suggest favorable economics to extract Li and Be as by-products of HREE mining. Li and some Be are hosted in annite biotite that comprises up to 5% of the rhyolite. Texas Mineral Resources Corp proposes to heap leach crushed rhyolite with dilute H2SO4to release the yttrofluorite-hosted HREEs. At bench scale the annite biotite dissolves, but not quartz and feldspars (>90% of the rock). A series of 40 high-yield laboratory tests at various acid strength, particle size, and exposure time released up to 350 ppm (70%) of the Li and 14 ppm (30%) of the Be. For a 20,000 tonne/day operation, these recoveries correspond to daily production of >3 tonnes Li and 250 kg Be. Higher Li and Be recoveries also increased yields of gangue elements, Fe & Al, into solution. This complicates subsequent separation of Li, Be, and HREEs from the pregnant leach solution. Recovery of target HREEs did not increase beyond 200 ppm Li and 8 ppm Be recovery. Greater Li and Be recoveries increased acid consumption. Thus the "sweet spot" economics for heap leach is likely under conditions of acid strength, grain size, and exposure time that do not maximize by-product Li and Be recoveries. Evolving market prices for the full target element suite and additional costs to recover and purify the Li and Be must also be considered.

  20. Characteristics of large three-dimensional heaps of particles produced by ballistic deposition from extended sources

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Topic, Nikola; Gallas, Jason A. C.; Pöschel, Thorsten

    2013-11-01

    This paper reports a detailed numerical investigation of the geometrical and structural properties of three-dimensional heaps of particles. Our goal is the characterization of very large heaps produced by ballistic deposition from extended circular dropping areas. First, we provide an in-depth study of the formation of monodisperse heaps of particles. We find very large heaps to contain three new geometrical characteristics: they may display two external angles of repose, one internal angle of repose, and four distinct packing fraction (density) regions. Such features are found to be directly connected with the size of the dropping zone. We derive a differential equation describing the boundary of an unexpected triangular packing fraction zone formed under the dropping area. We investigate the impact that noise during the deposition has on the final heap structure. In addition, we perform two complementary experiments designed to test the robustness of the novel features found. The first experiment considers changes due to polydispersity. The second checks what happens when letting the extended dropping zone to become a point-like source of particles, the more common type of source.

  1. Applications of imaging spectroscopy data: A case study at Summitville, Colorado

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    King, Trude V.V.; Clark, Roger N.; Swayze, Gregg A.

    2000-01-01

    From 1985 through 1992, the Summitville open-pit mine produced gold from lowgrade ore using cyanide heap-leach techniques, a method to extract gold whereby the ore pile is sprayed with water containing cyanide, which dissolves the minute gold grains. Environmental problems due to mining activity at Summitville include significant increases in acidic and metal-rich drainage from the site, leakage of cyanide-bearing solutions from the heap-leach pad into an underdrain system, and several surface leaks of cyanide-bearing solutions into the Wightman Fork of the Alamosa River. In general, drainage from the Summitville mine moves downslope into the Wightman Fork, a small tributary of the Alamosa River, which in turn flows east into the Terrace Reservoir before entering the agricultural lands of the San Luis Valley. The increase in the trace-metal burden of the Alamosa River watershed due to the mining activities at Summitville is of concern to farmers and fisherman, as well as Federal and State of Colorado agencies having responsibility for land stewardship. The environment of the Summitville area is a result of 1) its geologic evolution, that culminated in the formation of precious-metal mineral deposits; and 2) previous metal mining activity. Mining accentuates, accelerates, and pertubates natural geochemical processes. The development of underground workings, open pits, mill tailings, and spoil heaps and the extractive processing of ore enhances the likelihood of releasing chemicals and elements to the surrounding areas and at increased rates relative to unmined areas. Both mined and unmined mineralized areas can produce acid drainage from the formation and movement of highly acidic water rich in heavy metals. This acidic water forms principally through the chemical reaction of oxygenated surface water and shallow subsurface water with rocks that contain sulfide minerals, producing sulphuric acid. Heavy metals can be leached by the acid solution that comes in contact with mineralized rocks, a process that may be enhanced by bacterial action. The resulting fluids may be highly toxic and, when mixed with groundwater, surface water, and soil, may have harmful effects on humans, animals, and plants. Thus, understanding the geologic and hydrologic history of this area is a critical piece of the environmental puzzle in the Summitville area. The Summitville mine operators had ceased active mining and begun environmental remediation, including treatment of the heap-leach pile and installation of a water-treatment facility, when it declared bankruptcy in December 1992 and abandoned the mine site. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) immediately took over the Summitville site under EPA Superfund Emergency Response authority. Summitville has focused public attention on the environmental effects of modern mineral-resource development. Soon after the mine was abandoned, Federal, State, and local agencies, along with Alamosa River water users and private companies, began extensive studies at the mine site and surrounding areas. These studies included analysis of water, soil, livestock and vegetation. The role of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) was to provide geologic, hydrologic and agricultural information about the mine and surrounding area and to describe and evaluate the environmental condition of the Summitville mine and the downstream effects of the mine on the San Luis Valley (King 1995).

  2. Efficient Merge and Insert Operations for Binary Heaps and Trees

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Kuszmaul, Christopher Lee; Woo, Alex C. (Technical Monitor)

    2000-01-01

    Binary heaps and binary search trees merge efficiently. We introduce a new amortized analysis that allows us to prove the cost of merging either binary heaps or balanced binary trees is O(l), in the amortized sense. The standard set of other operations (create, insert, delete, extract minimum, in the case of binary heaps, and balanced binary trees, as well as a search operation for balanced binary trees) remain with a cost of O(log n). For binary heaps implemented as arrays, we show a new merge algorithm that has a single operation cost for merging two heaps, a and b, of O(absolute value of a + min(log absolute value of b log log absolute value of b. log absolute value of a log absolute value of b). This is an improvement over O(absolute value of a + log absolute value of a log absolute value of b). The cost of the new merge is so low that it can be used in a new structure which we call shadow heaps. to implement the insert operation to a tunable efficiency. Shadow heaps support the insert operation for simple priority queues in an amortized time of O(f(n)) and other operations in time O((log n log log n)/f (n)), where 1 less than or equal to f (n) less than or equal to log log n. More generally, the results here show that any data structure with operations that change its size by at most one, with the exception of a merge (aka meld) operation, can efficiently amortize the cost of the merge under conditions that are true for most implementations of binary heaps and search trees.

  3. Evaluation of concurrent priority queue algorithms. Technical report

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Huang, Q.

    1991-02-01

    The priority queue is a fundamental data structure that is used in a large variety of parallel algorithms, such as multiprocessor scheduling and parallel best-first search of state-space graphs. This thesis addresses the design and experimental evaluation of two novel concurrent priority queues: a parallel Fibonacci heap and a concurrent priority pool, and compares them with the concurrent binary heap. The parallel Fibonacci heap is based on the sequential Fibonacci heap, which is theoretically the most efficient data structure for sequential priority queues. This scheme not only preserves the efficient operation time bounds of its sequential counterpart, but also hasmore » very low contention by distributing locks over the entire data structure. The experimental results show its linearly scalable throughput and speedup up to as many processors as tested (currently 18). A concurrent access scheme for a doubly linked list is described as part of the implementation of the parallel Fibonacci heap. The concurrent priority pool is based on the concurrent B-tree and the concurrent pool. The concurrent priority pool has the highest throughput among the priority queues studied. Like the parallel Fibonacci heap, the concurrent priority pool scales linearly up to as many processors as tested. The priority queues are evaluated in terms of throughput and speedup. Some applications of concurrent priority queues such as the vertex cover problem and the single source shortest path problem are tested.« less

  4. Progress in bioleaching: part B: applications of microbial processes by the minerals industries.

    PubMed

    Brierley, Corale L; Brierley, James A

    2013-09-01

    This review presents developments and applications in bioleaching and mineral biooxidation since publication of a previous mini review in 2003 (Olson et al. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 63:249-257, 2003). There have been discoveries of newly identified acidophilic microorganisms that have unique characteristics for effective bioleaching of sulfidic ores and concentrates. Progress has been made in understanding and developing bioleaching of copper from primary copper sulfide minerals, chalcopyrite, covellite, and enargite. These developments point to low oxidation-reduction potential in concert with thermophilic bacteria and archaea as a potential key to the leaching of these minerals. On the commercial front, heap bioleaching of nickel has been commissioned, and the mineral biooxidation pretreatment of sulfidic-refractory gold concentrates is increasingly used on a global scale to enhance precious metal recovery. New and larger stirred-tank reactors have been constructed since the 2003 review article. One biooxidation-heap process for pretreatment of sulfidic-refractory gold ores was also commercialized. A novel reductive approach to bioleaching nickel laterite minerals has been proposed.

  5. Optimization of staged bioleaching of low-grade chalcopyrite ore in the presence and absence of chloride in the irrigating lixiviant: ANFIS simulation.

    PubMed

    Vakylabad, Ali Behrad; Schaffie, Mahin; Naseri, Ali; Ranjbar, Mohammad; Manafi, Zahra

    2016-07-01

    In this investigation, copper was bioleached from a low-grade chalcopyrite ore using a chloride-containing lixiviant. In this regard, firstly, the composition of the bacterial culture media was designed to control the cost in commercial application. The bacterial culture used in this process was acclimated to the presence of chloride in the lixiviant. Practically speaking, the modified culture helped the bio-heap-leaching system operate in the chloridic media. Compared to the copper recovery from the low-grade chalcopyrite by bioleaching in the absence of chloride, bioleaching in the presence of chloride resulted in improved copper recovery. The composition of the lixiviant used in this study was a modification with respect to the basal salts in 9 K medium to optimize the leaching process. When leaching the ore in columns, 76.81 % Cu (based on solid residues of bioleaching operation) was recovered by staged leaching with lixiviant containing 34.22 mM NaCl. The quantitative findings were supported by SEM/EDS observations, X-ray elemental mapping, and mineralogical analysis of the ore before and after leaching. Finally, Adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) was used to simulate the operational parameters affecting the bioleaching operation in chloride-sulfate system.

  6. Determining the Optimum Cut-Off Grades in Sulfide Copper Deposits / Określanie Optymalnej Wartości Odcięcia Zawartości Procentowej Pierwiastka Użytecznego W Złożach Siarczku Miedzi

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rahimi, Esmaeil; Oraee, Kazem; Shafahi, Zia Aldin; Ghasemzadeh, Hasan

    2015-03-01

    Optimum cut-off grades determination in mining life affects production planning and ultimate pit limit and it is also important from social, economical and environmental aspects. Calculation of optimum cut-off grades has been less considered for mines containing various mineral processing methods. In this paper, an optimization technique is applied to obtain optimum cut-off grades for both concentration and heap leaching processes. In this technique, production costs and different recoveries of heap leaching method directed into modeling different annual cash flows in copper mines. Considering the governing constraints, the Lagrange multiplier method is practiced to optimize the cut-off grades in which the objective function is supposed to maximize Net Present Value. The results indicate the effect of heap leaching process on the optimum cut-off grades of primary and secondary sulfide deposits. Określanie optymalnego poziomu odcięcia dla zawartości procentowej pierwiastka użytecznego ma poważny wpływ na planowanie produkcji, określanie ostatecznych limitów zasobów złoża; jest to także ważna kwestia z punktu widzenia kwestii społecznych, ekonomicznych i środowiskowych. Obliczanie optymalnego poziomu odcięcia dla zawartości procentowej pierwiastka użytecznego nie było zwykle szeroko rozważane w przypadku kopalni prowadzących ciągły system przeróbki. W pracy tej przedstawiono technikę optymalizacji określania poziomu zawartości procentowej pierwiastka użytecznego z uwzględnieniem zarówno procesów koncentracji jak i ługowania. W metodzie uwzględniono koszty produkcji i różne wskaźniki odzysku rudy, wielkości te wykorzystane zostały do modelowania rocznych przepływów gotówki w kopalniach miedzi. Uwzględniając narzucone ograniczenia, zastosowano metodę mnożników Lagrange'a w celu optymalizacji określania poziomu zawartości procentowej pierwiastka użytecznego, gdzie przyjętą funkcją celu jest maksymalizacja wartości bieżącej netto. Wyniki wskazują wpływ procesów ługowania na zawartość procentową pierwiastka użytecznego w rudzie pochodzącej z pierwotnych lub wtórnych złóż siarczku miedzi.

  7. Cyanide poisoning of a Cooper’s hawk (Accipiter cooperii)

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Franson, J. Christian

    2017-01-01

    A Cooper’s hawk (Accipiter cooperii) was found dead in a ditch leading from a heap leach pad at a gold mine in Nevada. Observations at autopsy included an absence of external lesions, traces of subcutaneous and coronary fat, no food in the upper gastrointestinal tract, and no lesions in the viscera. Cyanide concentrations (µg/g ww) were 5.04 in blood, 3.88 in liver, and 1.79 in brain. No bacteria or viruses were isolated from tissues, and brain cholinesterase activity was within the normal range for a Cooper’s hawk.

  8. Bioleaching of arsenic from highly contaminated mine tailings using Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans.

    PubMed

    Lee, Eunseong; Han, Yosep; Park, Jeonghyun; Hong, Jeongsik; Silva, Rene A; Kim, Seungkon; Kim, Hyunjung

    2015-01-01

    The behavior of arsenic (As) bioleaching from mine tailings containing high amount of As (ca. 34,000 mg/kg) was investigated using Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans to get an insight on the optimal conditions that would be applied to practical heap and/or tank bioleaching tests. Initial pH (1.8-2.2), temperature (25-40 °C), and solid concentration (0.5-4.0%) were employed as experimental parameters. Complementary characterization experiments (e.g., XRD, SEM-EDS, electrophoretic mobility, cell density, and sulfate production) were also carried out to better understand the mechanism of As bioleaching. The results showed that final As leaching efficiency was similar regardless of initial pH. However, greater initial As leaching rate was observed at initial pH 1.8 than other conditions, which could be attributed to greater initial cell attachment to mine tailings. Unlike the trend observed when varying the initial pH, the final As leaching efficiency varied with the changes in temperature and solid concentration. Specifically, As leaching efficiency tended to decrease with increasing temperature due to the decrease in the bacterial growth rate at higher temperature. Meanwhile, As leaching efficiency tended to increase with decreasing solid concentration. The results for jarosite contents in mine tailings residue after bioleaching revealed that much greater amount of the jarosite was formed during the bioleaching reaction at higher solid concentration, suggesting that the coverage of the surface of the mine tailings by jarosite and/or the co-precipitation of the leached As with jarosite could be a dominant factor reducing As leaching efficiency. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. The shift of microbial communities and their roles in sulfur and iron cycling in a copper ore bioleaching system.

    PubMed

    Niu, Jiaojiao; Deng, Jie; Xiao, Yunhua; He, Zhili; Zhang, Xian; Van Nostrand, J D; Liang, Yili; Deng, Ye; Liu, Xueduan; Yin, Huaqun

    2016-10-04

    Bioleaching has been employed commercially to recover metals from low grade ores, but the production efficiency remains to be improved due to limited understanding of the system. This study examined the shift of microbial communities and S&Fe cycling in three subsystems within a copper ore bioleaching system: leaching heap (LH), leaching solution (LS) and sediment under LS. Results showed that both LH and LS had higher relative abundance of S and Fe oxidizing bacteria, while S and Fe reducing bacteria were more abundant in the Sediment. GeoChip analysis showed a stronger functional potential for S 0 oxidation in LH microbial communities. These findings were consistent with measured oxidation activities to S 0 and Fe 2+ , which were highest by microbial communities from LH, lower by those from LS and lowest form Sediment. Moreover, phylogenetic molecular ecological network analysis indicated that these differences might be related to interactions among microbial taxa. Last but not the least, a conceptual model was proposed, linking the S&Fe cycling with responsible microbial populations in the bioleaching systems. Collectively, this study revealed the microbial community and functional structures in all three subsystems of the copper ore, and advanced a holistic understanding of the whole bioleaching system.

  10. The shift of microbial communities and their roles in sulfur and iron cycling in a copper ore bioleaching system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Niu, Jiaojiao; Deng, Jie; Xiao, Yunhua; He, Zhili; Zhang, Xian; van Nostrand, J. D.; Liang, Yili; Deng, Ye; Liu, Xueduan; Yin, Huaqun

    2016-10-01

    Bioleaching has been employed commercially to recover metals from low grade ores, but the production efficiency remains to be improved due to limited understanding of the system. This study examined the shift of microbial communities and S&Fe cycling in three subsystems within a copper ore bioleaching system: leaching heap (LH), leaching solution (LS) and sediment under LS. Results showed that both LH and LS had higher relative abundance of S and Fe oxidizing bacteria, while S and Fe reducing bacteria were more abundant in the Sediment. GeoChip analysis showed a stronger functional potential for S0 oxidation in LH microbial communities. These findings were consistent with measured oxidation activities to S0 and Fe2+, which were highest by microbial communities from LH, lower by those from LS and lowest form Sediment. Moreover, phylogenetic molecular ecological network analysis indicated that these differences might be related to interactions among microbial taxa. Last but not the least, a conceptual model was proposed, linking the S&Fe cycling with responsible microbial populations in the bioleaching systems. Collectively, this study revealed the microbial community and functional structures in all three subsystems of the copper ore, and advanced a holistic understanding of the whole bioleaching system.

  11. The shift of microbial communities and their roles in sulfur and iron cycling in a copper ore bioleaching system

    PubMed Central

    Niu, Jiaojiao; Deng, Jie; Xiao, Yunhua; He, Zhili; Zhang, Xian; Van Nostrand, J. D.; Liang, Yili; Deng, Ye; Liu, Xueduan; Yin, Huaqun

    2016-01-01

    Bioleaching has been employed commercially to recover metals from low grade ores, but the production efficiency remains to be improved due to limited understanding of the system. This study examined the shift of microbial communities and S&Fe cycling in three subsystems within a copper ore bioleaching system: leaching heap (LH), leaching solution (LS) and sediment under LS. Results showed that both LH and LS had higher relative abundance of S and Fe oxidizing bacteria, while S and Fe reducing bacteria were more abundant in the Sediment. GeoChip analysis showed a stronger functional potential for S0 oxidation in LH microbial communities. These findings were consistent with measured oxidation activities to S0 and Fe2+, which were highest by microbial communities from LH, lower by those from LS and lowest form Sediment. Moreover, phylogenetic molecular ecological network analysis indicated that these differences might be related to interactions among microbial taxa. Last but not the least, a conceptual model was proposed, linking the S&Fe cycling with responsible microbial populations in the bioleaching systems. Collectively, this study revealed the microbial community and functional structures in all three subsystems of the copper ore, and advanced a holistic understanding of the whole bioleaching system. PMID:27698381

  12. Engineering assessment of inactive uranium mill tailings, Durango Site, Durango, Colorado

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Not Available

    1981-06-01

    Ford, Bacon and Davis Utah Inc. has reevaluated the Durango site in order to revise the November 1977 engineering assessment of the problems resulting from the existence of radioactive uranium mill tailings at Durango, Colorado. This engineering assessment has included the preparation of topographic maps, the performance of core drillings and radiometric measurements sufficient to determine areas and volumes of tailings and radiation exposures of individuals and nearby populations, the investigations of site hydrology and meteorology, and the evaluation and costing of alternative corrective actions. Radon gas released from the nearly 1.6 million tons of tailings at the Durango sitemore » constitutes the most significant environmental impact, although windblown tailings and external gamma radiation also are factors. The four alternative actions presented in this engineering assessment range from millsite and off-site decontamination with the addition of 3 m of stabilization cover material (Option I), to removal of the tailings to remote disposal sites and decontamination of the tailings site (Options II through IV). Cost estimates for the seven options range from about $10,700,000 for stabilization in-place, to about $21,800,000 for disposal at a distance of about 10 mi. Three principal alternatives for the reprocessing of the Durango tailings were examined: (a) heap leaching; (b) treatment at an existing mill; and (c) reprocessing at a new conventional mill constructed for tailings reprocessing. The cost of the uranium recovered would be about $30/lb U/sub 3/O/sub 8/ by either heap leach or conventional plant processes.« less

  13. Hazardous E-waste and its impact on soil structure

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dharini, K.; Cynthia, J. Bernadette; Kamalambikai, B.; Sudar Celestina, J. P. Arul; Muthu, D.

    2017-07-01

    E-waste disposal has been a significant issue over the past few decades with the development of technology and the plethora of electronic products produced. The inclusive term E-Waste encapsulates various forms of electrical and electronical equipment which provides no value to the current owners and it is one among the fastest growing waste streams. E-Waste is a complex, non-biodegradable waste which is generally dumped in mountain like heaps. These wastes are said to have a large quantities of lead, cadmium, arsenic etc.it is mandatory to dispose such scrupulously since they have the ability to affect the soil and water parameters. Solid waste management is a blooming field which strives to reduce the accumulation of used electronic gadgets. Rainwater gets infiltrated through the e-waste landfill and it leaches through the soil which in turn reaches the groundwater directly thereby affecting the water intended for drinking and domestic purposes. This study focuses on the consequences of toxic waste by comparing the difference in properties of the soil structure prior to and after the e-waste landfill at various concentrations.

  14. Engineering assessment of inactive uranium mill tailings: Maybell Site, Maybell, Colorado

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    None

    1981-09-01

    Ford, Bacon and Davis Utah Inc. has reevaluated the Maybell site in order to revise the October 1977 engineering assessment of the problems resulting from the existence of radioactive uranium mill tailings at Maybell, Colorado. This engineering assessment has included the preparation of topographic maps, the performance of core drillings and radiometric measurements sufficient to determine areas and volumes of tailings and radiation exposures of individuals and nearby populations, the investigations of site hydrology and meteorology, and the evaluation and costing of alternative corrective actions. Radon gas released from the 2.6 million dry tons of tailings at the Maybell sitemore » constitutes the most significant environmental impact, although windblown tailings and external gamma radiation also are factors. The two alternative actions presented in this engineering assessment range from millsite decontamination with the addition of 3 m of stabilization cover material (Option I), to disposal of the tailings in a nearby open pit mine and decontamination of the tailings site (Option II). Cost estimates for the two options are about $11,700,000 for stabilization in-place and about $22,700,000 for disposal within a distance of 2 mi. Three principal alternatives for the reprocessing of the Maybell tailings were examined: (a) heap leaching; (b) treatment at an existing mill; and (c) reprocessing at a new conventional mill constructed for tailings reprocessing. The cost of the uranium recovered would be about $125 and $165/lb of U/sub 3/O/sub 8/ by heap leach and conventional plant processes, respectively. The spot market price for uranium was $25/lb early in 1981. Therefore, reprocessing the tailings for uranium recovery is not economically attractive at present.« less

  15. Engineering assessment of inactive uranium mill tailings: Maybell Site, Maybell, Colorado. Summary

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    None

    1981-09-01

    Ford, Bacon and Davis Utah Inc. has reevaluated the Maybell site in order to revise the October 1977 engineering assessment of the problems resulting from the existence of radioactive uranium mill tailings at Maybell, Colorado. This engineering assessment has included the preparation of topographic maps, the performance of core drillings and radiometric measurements sufficient to determine areas and volumes of tailings and radiation exposures of individuals and nearby populations, the investigations of site hydrology and meteorology, and the evaluation and costing of alternative corrective actions. Radon gas released from the 2.6 million dry tons of tailings at the Maybell sitemore » constitutes the most significant environmental impact, although windblown tailings and external gamma radiation also are factors. The two alternative actions presented in this engineering assessment range from millsite decontamination with the addition of 3 m of stabilization cover material (Option I), to disposal of the tailings in a nearby open pit mine and decontamination of the tailings site (Option II). Cost estimates for the two options are about $11,700,000 for stabilization in-place and about $22,700,000 for disposal within a distance of 2 mi. Three principal alternatives for the reprocessing of the Maybell tailings were examined: (a) heap leaching; (b) treatment at an existing mill; and (c) reprocessing at a new conventional mill constructed for tailings reprocessing. The cost of the uranium recovered would be about $125 and $165/lb of U/sub 3/O/sub 8/ by heap leach and conventional plant processes, respectively. The spot market price for uranium was $25/lb early in 1981. Therefore, reprocessing the tailings for uranium recovery is not economically attractive at present.« less

  16. MR imaging of ore for heap bioleaching studies using pure phase encode acquisition methods

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fagan, Marijke A.; Sederman, Andrew J.; Johns, Michael L.

    2012-03-01

    Various MRI techniques were considered with respect to imaging of aqueous flow fields in low grade copper ore. Spin echo frequency encoded techniques were shown to produce unacceptable image distortions which led to pure phase encoded techniques being considered. Single point imaging multiple point acquisition (SPI-MPA) and spin echo single point imaging (SESPI) techniques were applied. By direct comparison with X-ray tomographic images, both techniques were found to be able to produce distortion-free images of the ore packings at 2 T. The signal to noise ratios (SNRs) of the SESPI images were found to be superior to SPI-MPA for equal total acquisition times; this was explained based on NMR relaxation measurements. SESPI was also found to produce suitable images for a range of particles sizes, whereas SPI-MPA SNR deteriorated markedly as particles size was reduced. Comparisons on a 4.7 T magnet showed significant signal loss from the SPI-MPA images, the effect of which was accentuated in the case of unsaturated flowing systems. Hence it was concluded that SESPI was the most robust imaging method for the study of copper ore heap leaching hydrology.

  17. Low temperature FTIR, Raman, NMR spectroscopic and theoretical study of hydroxyethylammonium picrate

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sudharsana, N.; Sharma, A.; Kuş, N.; Fausto, R.; Luísa Ramos, M.; Krishnakumar, V.; Pal, R.; Guru Row, T. N.; Nagalakshmi, R.

    2016-01-01

    A combined experimental (infrared, Raman and NMR) and theoretical quantum chemical study is performed on the charge-transfer complex hydroxyethylammonium picrate (HEAP). The infrared (IR) spectra for HEAP were recorded at various temperatures, ranging from 16 K to 299 K, and the Raman spectrum was recorded at room temperature. A comparison of the experimental IR and Raman spectra with the corresponding calculated spectra was done, in order to facilitate interpretation of the experimental data. Formation of the HEAP complex is evidenced by the presence of the most prominent characteristic bands of the constituting groups of the charge-transfer complex [e.g., NH3+, CO- and NO2]. Vibrational spectroscopic analysis, together with natural bond orbital (NBO) and theoretical charge density analysis in the crystalline phase, was used to shed light on relevant structural details of HEAP resulting from deprotonation of picric acid followed by formation of a hydrogen bond of the N-H⋯OC type between the hydroxyethylammonium cation and the picrate. 13C and 1H NMR spectroscopic analysis are also presented for the DMSO-d6 solution of the compound revealing that in that medium the HEAP crystal dissolves forming the free picrate and hydroxyethylammonium ions. Finally, the electron excitation analysis of HEAP was performed in an attempt to determine the nature of the most important excited states responsible for the NLO properties exhibited by the compound.

  18. Comparative evaluation of some methods of investigations of the composition of hydroxyethylated alkylphenols

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Fabrichnaya, A.L.; Rubanov, V.E.; Tavrin, A.E.

    1987-11-10

    Hydroxyethylated alkylphenols (HEAP/sub n/), which are nonionogenic surfactants, are used in the petroleum industry for increasing the extraction of oil. An attempt was made in this study to use methods of column fractionation, turbidimetric titration (TT), and gel permeation chromatography (GPC) for determining the molecular inhomogeneity of HEAP/sub n/ (n = 10) characterized by the molecular-weight distribution (MWD). The study of the MWD of HEAP by different methods showed that as a function of the problems actually posed, all of the methods can be used for this purpose. For operational control of the molecular and structural inhomogeneities in the preparationmore » of HEAP, it is desirable to use such methods as GPC and TT. The preference which should be given to GPC due to its rapidity and the volume of the information obtained is neutralized by the difficulty in procuring the instruments. For this reason, the availability and simplicity of the apparatus used is a favorable circumstance for the use of TT.« less

  19. Uniform Distribution of Yttrium and Heavy Rare Earth Elements in Round Top Mountain Rhyolite Deposit , Sierra Blanca Texas, USA: Data, Significance, and Origin

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pingitore, N. E., Jr.; Clague, J. W.; Gorski, D.

    2014-12-01

    The Round Top Mountain peraluminous rhyolite, exposed at the surface in Sierra Blanca, Hudspeth County, west Texas, USA, is enriched in yttrium and heavy rare earth elements (YHREEs). Other potentially valuable elements in the deposit include Be, Li, U, Th, Sn, F, Nb, and Ta. Texas Rare Earth Resources Corp. proposes to extract the YHREEs from the host mineral variety yttrofluorite by inexpensive heap leaching with dilute sulfuric acid, which also releases some of the Be, Li, U, F, and Th from other soluble minor minerals. Data: Feldspars and quartz comprise 90-95% of the rhyolite, with pheonocrysts of up to 250 microns set in an aphanitic matrix that hosts the typically sub-micron target yttrofluorite. Reverse circulation cuttings from some 100 drill holes, two drill cores, and outcrop and trench observations suggest striking physical homogeneity through this billion-plus ton surface-exposed laccolith, about 1200 feet high and a mile in diameter (375 x 1600 m). Gray to pink, and other minor hues, color variation derives from magnetite—hematite redox reaction. Plots of Y, 13 REEs, U, Th, and Nb analyses from over 1500 samples collected from 64 drill holes (color codes in figure) exhibit remarkably little variation in the concentration of these elements with geographic position or depth within the laccolith. Importance: Uniform mineralization grades help insure against the mining production surprises often associated with vein deposits and heterogeneous open pit deposits. At Round Top, mine feedstock can be relatively constant over the life of the mine (multiple decades), so the mechanical mining process can be optimized early on and not need expensive alterations later. Likewise, the chemical and physical parameters of the heap leach can be perfected. The sensitive and expensive process of extraction of elements and element groups from the pregnant leach solution and purification also can be optimized. Origin: The remarkable homogeneity of the YHREE distribution through the laccolith suggest YHREE and associated mineralization from a late-stage fluorine vapor generated within the magma in situ, rather than from injection of a F-rich fluid from an external source. The micron-scale cavities that produce up to 5% original porosity in the rhyolite may be nano-analogues of the cavities associated with granite pegmatites.

  20. Event management for large scale event-driven digital hardware spiking neural networks.

    PubMed

    Caron, Louis-Charles; D'Haene, Michiel; Mailhot, Frédéric; Schrauwen, Benjamin; Rouat, Jean

    2013-09-01

    The interest in brain-like computation has led to the design of a plethora of innovative neuromorphic systems. Individually, spiking neural networks (SNNs), event-driven simulation and digital hardware neuromorphic systems get a lot of attention. Despite the popularity of event-driven SNNs in software, very few digital hardware architectures are found. This is because existing hardware solutions for event management scale badly with the number of events. This paper introduces the structured heap queue, a pipelined digital hardware data structure, and demonstrates its suitability for event management. The structured heap queue scales gracefully with the number of events, allowing the efficient implementation of large scale digital hardware event-driven SNNs. The scaling is linear for memory, logarithmic for logic resources and constant for processing time. The use of the structured heap queue is demonstrated on a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) with an image segmentation experiment and a SNN of 65,536 neurons and 513,184 synapses. Events can be processed at the rate of 1 every 7 clock cycles and a 406×158 pixel image is segmented in 200 ms. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. Coarse grained models, bond orientational order, and the structural characterization of residue networks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ortiz, Carlos Pompeyo

    Rigidity emerges in a broad class of soft matter systems, relevant to many industrial and biological processes. In our experiments, we study a model soft matter system, hard-sphere Brownian suspensions of submicron particles. Brownian suspensions lack rigidity in the absence of external driving, but form flow-stabilized solid-like microsphere heaps under the influence of hydrodynamic forces. The overarching question driving my dissertation is "What is the nature of the rigidity of these microsphere heaps?" Does the rigidity of the heaps follow from mechanical stability driven by a sufficiently interconnected network of particle contacts? Or, does the rigidity of the heaps follow from a kinetic glass transition characterized by a diverging resistance to flow such that the time necessary to observe rearrangements grows prohibitively large? We expect that insights into the mechanism of rigidity of Brownian microsphere heaps are applicable to a wide class of soft matter systems. In this thesis,we have overcome the limitations of previous experimental approaches. Namely, we show that the rigidity of our heaps does not emerge from the effects of gravity, inertia, static friction, or van der Waals sticking. In Chapter 1 of thesis, we review the background literature. In Chapter 2, we present the experimental, analytical, and computational methods used in the remainder of the thesis. In Chapter 3, we investigate the onset of rigidity by characterizing the steady-state size of the heap versus the imposed flow conditions. We show that thermal fluctuations and repulsive interparticle interactions, the dominant forces at the single-particle scale, suppress the development of a rigid phase. These conditions imply that the onset of rigidity in involves many-body collective interactions. In Chapter 4, we measure the response of the heap to external perturbations, which allows us to measure their elastic modulus and compare our results to hard sphere theoretical expectations. We find bulk nonlinear elastic behavior. In Chapter 5, we study the particle displacements in response to external perturbations and quantify the local nonlinear elastic behavior.

  2. Detecting Heap-Spraying Code Injection Attacks in Malicious Web Pages Using Runtime Execution

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Choi, Younghan; Kim, Hyoungchun; Lee, Donghoon

    The growing use of web services is increasing web browser attacks exponentially. Most attacks use a technique called heap spraying because of its high success rate. Heap spraying executes a malicious code without indicating the exact address of the code by copying it into many heap objects. For this reason, the attack has a high potential to succeed if only the vulnerability is exploited. Thus, attackers have recently begun using this technique because it is easy to use JavaScript to allocate the heap memory area. This paper proposes a novel technique that detects heap spraying attacks by executing a heap object in a real environment, irrespective of the version and patch status of the web browser. This runtime execution is used to detect various forms of heap spraying attacks, such as encoding and polymorphism. Heap objects are executed after being filtered on the basis of patterns of heap spraying attacks in order to reduce the overhead of the runtime execution. Patterns of heap spraying attacks are based on analysis of how an web browser accesses benign web sites. The heap objects are executed forcibly by changing the instruction register into the address of them after being loaded into memory. Thus, we can execute the malicious code without having to consider the version and patch status of the browser. An object is considered to contain a malicious code if the execution reaches a call instruction and then the instruction accesses the API of system libraries, such as kernel32.dll and ws_32.dll. To change registers and monitor execution flow, we used a debugger engine. A prototype, named HERAD(HEap spRAying Detector), is implemented and evaluated. In experiments, HERAD detects various forms of exploit code that an emulation cannot detect, and some heap spraying attacks that NOZZLE cannot detect. Although it has an execution overhead, HERAD produces a low number of false alarms. The processing time of several minutes is negligible because our research focuses on detecting heap spraying. This research can be applied to existing systems that collect malicious codes, such as Honeypot.

  3. A Unique Yttrofluorite-Hosted Giant Heavy Rare Earth Deposit: Round Top Mountain, Hudspeth County, Texas, USA

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pingitore, N. E.; Clague, J. W.; Gorski, D.

    2013-12-01

    Round Top Mountain is a surface-exposed peraluminous rhyolite laccolith, enriched in heavy rare earth elements, as well as niobium-tantalum, beryllium, lithium, fluorine, tin, rubidium, thorium, and uranium. The extreme extent of the deposit (diameter one mile) makes it a target for recovery of valuable yttrium and HREEs, and possibly other scarce elements. The Texas Bureau of Economic Geology estimated the laccolith mass as at least 1.6 billion tons. A Preliminary Economic Assessment for Texas Rare Earth Resources listed an inferred mineral resource of 430,598,000 kg REOs (rare earth oxides), with over 70% Y+HREEs (YHREE). Put in global perspective, China is thought to produce ~25,000 tons YHREE per year, and exports but a small fraction of that. Because of the extremely fine grain size of the late-phase fluorine-carried critical fluid mineralization, it has not been clear which minerals host the YHREEs. X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy experiments at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource revealed that virtually all of the YHREE content resides in yttrofluorite, rather than in the other reported REE minerals in the deposit, bastnaesite and xenotime. The extended x-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) spectra of the sample suite were all quite similar, and proved a close match to known model compound specimens of yttrofluorite from two locations, in Sweden and New Mexico. Small spectral variation between the two model compounds and among the samples is attributable to the variable elemental composition and altervalent substitutional nature of yttrofluorite (Ca [1-x] Y,REE [x])F[2+x]. We found no other reported deposit in the world in which yttrofluorite is the exclusive, or even more than a minor, YHREE host mineral. Leaching experiments show that the YHREEs are easily liberated by dissolution with dilute sulfuric acid, due to the solubility of yttrofluorite. Flotation separation of the yttrofluorite had been demonstrated, but was rendered inefficient by the micron-scale grain size of the yttrofluorite. Our laboratory leaching experiments with different acid strengths, grain sizes, and exposure times showed up to 90% recovery of the YHREEs. As expected, similar recoveries were obtained from longer exposure times at lower sulfuric acid concentration. Optimal grain size is in the 2-10 mm range. Thus a heap leach of the deposit is likely feasible, aided by the fact that 90-95% of the rock comprises insoluble and unreactive quartz and feldspars. The absence of overburden, proximity (a few km) to an interstate highway and major rail systems, temperate climate, and favorable political location enhance the potential and appeal for development of a heap leach operation. The grade of the deposit is just over 0.05% total rare earth elements plus yttrium. Although some might consider this sub-economic, it is in the range of the South China ionic clay deposits that supply essentially all of the world's YHREEs. Further, the grade is remarkably consistent through 1657 samples from 64 reverse-circulation drill holes with a total sampled interval of 30,353 feet. This consistency of grade permits accurate economic assessment and prediction, an unchanging ore grade and mine feedstock over life of mine, and a single REE separation chemistry to be developed. Thus mine and separation procedures need only be developed and optimized once.

  4. Hybrid Exploration Agent Platform and Sensor Web System

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Stoffel, A. William; VanSteenberg, Michael E.

    2004-01-01

    A sensor web to collect the scientific data needed to further exploration is a major and efficient asset to any exploration effort. This is true not only for lunar and planetary environments, but also for interplanetary and liquid environments. Such a system would also have myriad direct commercial spin-off applications. The Hybrid Exploration Agent Platform and Sensor Web or HEAP-SW like the ANTS concept is a Sensor Web concept. The HEAP-SW is conceptually and practically a very different system. HEAP-SW is applicable to any environment and a huge range of exploration tasks. It is a very robust, low cost, high return, solution to a complex problem. All of the technology for initial development and implementation is currently available. The HEAP Sensor Web or HEAP-SW consists of three major parts, The Hybrid Exploration Agent Platforms or HEAP, the Sensor Web or SW and the immobile Data collection and Uplink units or DU. The HEAP-SW as a whole will refer to any group of mobile agents or robots where each robot is a mobile data collection unit that spends most of its time acting in concert with all other robots, DUs in the web, and the HEAP-SWs overall Command and Control (CC) system. Each DU and robot is, however, capable of acting independently. The three parts of the HEAP-SW system are discussed in this paper. The Goals of the HEAP-SW system are: 1) To maximize the amount of exploration enhancing science data collected; 2) To minimize data loss due to system malfunctions; 3) To minimize or, possibly, eliminate the risk of total system failure; 4) To minimize the size, weight, and power requirements of each HEAP robot; 5) To minimize HEAP-SW system costs. The rest of this paper discusses how these goals are attained.

  5. Dry Matter Losses and Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Outside Storage of Short Rotation Coppice Willow Chip.

    PubMed

    Whittaker, Carly; Yates, Nicola E; Powers, Stephen J; Misselbrook, Tom; Shield, Ian

    This study examined the dry matter losses and the greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations within two short rotation coppice (SRC) willow wood chip storage heaps. One heap was built on a grassland area (East Midlands) and the other (Rothamsted) on a concrete hard standing. A series of 1- and 3-m probes were embedded in the heaps in order to retrieve gas samples for analysis, and pre-weighed net bags were positioned in the core of the heap to detect dry matter losses. The bagged samples showed dry matter losses of 18 and 19 % in the East Midlands and Rothamsted heaps after 210 and 97 days storage, respectively. The Rothamsted heap showed a whole-heap dry matter loss of 21 %. During this time, the wood chips dried from 54 to 39 % moisture content in the East Midlands heap and 50 to 43 % at Rothamsted. The results from analysing the whole Rothamsted heap indicated an overall loss of 1.5 GJ per tonne stored, although measurements from bagged samples in the core suggested that the chips dried sufficiently to have a minimal energy loss from storage. The process of mixing the heap, however, led to incorporation of wet outer layers and hence the average moisture content was higher in an average sample of chip. After establishment of the heaps, the temperature rose rapidly and this correlated with a peak in carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) concentration within the heap. A peak in methane (CH 4 ) concentration was also detected in both heaps, though more noticeably in the East Midlands heap after around 55 days. In both instances, the peak CH 4 concentration occurred as CO 2 concentrations dropped, suggesting that after an active period of aerobic decomposition in the first 2 months of storage, the conditions in the heap became anaerobic. The results from this study suggest that outside wood chip storage is not an efficient method of storing biomass, though this may be location-specific as there are some studies showing lower dry matter losses. It is necessary to explore other methods of harvesting SRC to minimise losses and optimise land use efficiency. Further research is required to detect whether there are fugitive emissions of CH 4 from wood chip heaps, as this will compromise the net GHG savings from utilising the biomass stored in this way.

  6. Long term insight into biodiversity of a smelter wasteland reclaimed with biosolids and by-product lime.

    PubMed

    Siebielec, Sylwia; Siebielec, Grzegorz; Stuczyński, Tomasz; Sugier, Piotr; Grzęda, Emilia; Grządziel, Jarosław

    2018-09-15

    Smelter wastelands containing high amounts of zinc, lead, cadmium, and arsenic constitute a major problem worldwide. Serious hazards for human health and ecosystem functioning are related to a lack of vegetative cover, causing fugitive dust fluxes, runoff and leaching of metals, affecting post-industrial ecosystems, often in heavily populated areas. Previous studies demonstrated the short term effectiveness of assisted phytostabilisation of zinc and lead smelter slags, using biosolids and liming. However, a long term persistence of plant communities introduced for remediation and risk reduction has not been adequately evaluated. The work was aimed at characterising trace element solubility, plant and microbial communities of the top layer of the reclaimed zinc and lead smelter waste heaps in Piekary Slaskie, Poland, 20 years after the treatment and revegetation. The surface layer of the waste heaps treated with various rates of biosolids and the by-product lime was sampled for measuring chemical and biochemical parameters, which are indicative for metals bioavailability as well as for microorganisms activity. Microbial processes were characterised by enzyme activities, abundance of specific groups of microorganisms and identification of N fixing bacteria. Plant communities of the area were characterised by a percent coverage of the surface and by a composition of plant species and plant diversity. The study provides a strong evidence that the implemented remediation approach enables a sustainable functioning of the ecosystem established on the toxic waste heaps. Enzyme activities and the count of various groups of microorganisms were the highest in areas treated with both biosolids and lime, regardless their rates. A high plant species diversity and microbial activities are sustainable after almost two decades from the treatment, which is indicative of a strong resistance of the established ecosystem to a metal stress and a poor physical quality of the anthropogenic soil formed by the treatment. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  7. Norman Stuart heaps 1928”1986

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cartwright, David E.

    Dr. Norman Heaps died on June 26, 1986, in a hospital near his native town of Prescot, U.K., a suburb of Liverpool, after a long illness punctuated by bouts of painful medical treatment for lung cancer. He was the pioneer in Britain of the numerical modeling of tides and storm surges in shelf seas.He graduated at the University of Liverpool in 1949 with honors in mathematics with subsidiary physics and oceanography. Many years later the same university awarded him a doctorate on the basis of his published work. Norman's first 10 postgraduate years were spent as mathematician in the aircraft industry, but he never felt at home in the industrial world and sought a more academic career. While lecturing at the Royal College of Advanced Technology at Salford, Manchester (now the University of Salford), he struck a lasting friendship with Clifford Mortimer, FRS, then director of the Freshwater Biological Association laboratory at Lake Windermere, who first interested Heaps in the problem of computing the natural seiche oscillations of that lake. The use of electronic computers was still in its infancy, but Heaps saw that the equations of internal oscillations in such a lake could be solved numerically by methods that he had developed in the theory of wing structures. Heaps worked up a Master's thesis on this problem during his summer vacations, and he later worked with Mortimer at the University of Wisconsin on a more advanced scheme involving the coupled oscillations of Green Bay and Lake Michigan.

  8. Comparative study of ageing, heat treatment and accelerated carbonation for stabilization of municipal solid waste incineration bottom ash in view of reducing regulated heavy metal/metalloid leaching.

    PubMed

    Santos, Rafael M; Mertens, Gilles; Salman, Muhammad; Cizer, Özlem; Van Gerven, Tom

    2013-10-15

    This study compared the performance of four different approaches for stabilization of regulated heavy metal and metalloid leaching from municipal solid waste incineration bottom ash (MSWI-BA): (i) short term (three months) heap ageing, (ii) heat treatment, (iii) accelerated moist carbonation, and (iv) accelerated pressurized slurry carbonation. Two distinct types of MSWI-BA were tested in this study: one originating from a moving-grate furnace incineration operation treating exclusively household refuse (sample B), and another originating from a fluid-bed furnace incineration operation that treats a mixture of household and light industrial wastes (sample F). The most abundant elements in the ashes were Si (20-27 wt.%) and Ca (16-19 wt.%), followed by significant quantities of Fe, Al, Na, S, K, Mg, Ti, and Cl. The main crystalline substances present in the fresh ashes were Quartz, Calcite, Apatite, Anhydrite and Gehlenite, while the amorphous fraction ranged from 56 to 73 wt.%. The leaching values of all samples were compared to the Flemish (NEN 7343) and the Walloon (DIN 38414) regulations from Belgium. Batch leaching of the fresh ashes at natural pH showed that seven elements exceeded at least one regulatory limit (Ba, Cr, Cu, Mo, Pb, Se and Zn), and that both ashes had excess basicity (pH > 12). Accelerated carbonation achieved significant reduction in ash basicity (9.3-9.9); lower than ageing (10.5-12.2) and heat treatment (11.1-12.1). For sample B, there was little distinction between the leaching results of ageing and accelerated carbonation with respect to regulatory limits; however carbonation achieved comparatively lower leaching levels. Heat treatment was especially detrimental to the leaching of Cr. For sample F, ageing was ineffective and heat treatment had marginally better results, while accelerated carbonation delivered the most effective performance, with slurry carbonation meeting all DIN limits. Slurry carbonation was deemed the most effective treatment process, achieving consistently significant leaching stabilization, while also effectively washing out Cl ions, a requirement for the utilization of the ashes in construction applications. The benefits of carbonation were linked to the formation of significant quantities of Ca-carbonates, including appreciable quantities of the Aragonite polymorph formed in the slurry carbonated samples. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Electrophoretic analysis of cyanide depletion by Pseudomonas alcaligenes.

    PubMed

    Zaugg, S E; Davidson, R A; Walker, J C; Walker, E B

    1997-02-01

    Bacterial-facilitated depletion of cyanide is under development for remediation of heap leach operations in the gold mining industry. Capillary electrophoresis was found to be a powerful tool for quantifying cyanide depletion. Changes in cyanide concentration in aqueous suspensions of Pseudomonas alcaligenes bacteria and cyanide at elevated pH were easily monitored by capillary electrophoresis. The resulting data can be used to study rates of cyanide depletion by this strain of bacteria. Concentrations of these bacteria at 10(5) cells/mL were found to reduce cyanide from 100 ppm to less than 8 ppm in four days. In addition, other ions of interest in cyanide metabolism, such as formate, can be simultaneously analyzed. Direct UV detection of cyanide at 192 nm further simplifies the analytical method for these ions.

  10. Phylogenetic analysis of bacterial isolates from man-made high-pH, high-salt environments and identification of gene-cassette-associated open reading frames.

    PubMed

    Ghauri, Muhammad A; Khalid, Ahmad M; Grant, Susan; Grant, William D; Heaphy, Shaun

    2006-06-01

    Environmental samples were collected from high-pH sites in Pakistan, including a uranium heap set up for carbonate leaching, the lime unit of a tannery, and the Khewra salt mine. Another sample was collected from a hot spring on the shore of the soda lake, Magadi, in Kenya. Microbial cultures were enriched from Pakistani samples. Phylogenetic analysis of isolates was carried out by sequencing 16S rRNA genes. Genomic DNA was amplified by polymerase chain reaction using integron gene-cassette-specific primers. Different gene-cassette-linked genes were recovered from the cultured strains related to Halomonas magadiensis, Virgibacillus halodenitrificans, and Yania flava and from the uncultured environmental DNA sample. The usefulness of this technique as a tool for gene mining is indicated.

  11. CSTutor: A Sketch-Based Tool for Visualizing Data Structures

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Buchanan, Sarah; Laviola, Joseph J., Jr.

    2014-01-01

    We present CSTutor, a sketch-based interface designed to help students understand data structures, specifically Linked Lists, Binary Search Trees, AVL Trees, and Heaps. CSTutor creates an environment that seamlessly combines a user's sketched diagram and code. In each of these data structure modes, the user can naturally sketch a data structure on…

  12. Accounting for cyanide and its degradation products at three Nevada gold mines; constraints from stable C- and N-isotopes

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Johnson, C.A.; Grimes, D.J.; Rye, R.O.

    1998-01-01

    An understanding of the fate of cyanide (CN-) in mine process waters is important for addressing environmental concerns and for taking steps to minimize reagent costs. The utility of stable isotope methods in identifying cyanide loss pathways has been investigated in case studies at three Nevada gold mines. Freshly prepared barren solutions at the mines have cyanide d15N and d13C values averaging -4 ? and -36 ?, respectively, reflecting the nitrogen and carbon sources used by commercial manufacturers, air and natural gas methane. Pregnant solutions returning from ore heaps display small isotopic shifts to lower d15N and d13C values. The shifts are similar to those observed in laboratory experiments where cyanide was progressively precipitated as a cyanometallic compound, and are opposite in sign and much smaller in magnitude than the shifts observed in experiments where HCN was offgassed. Offgassing is inferred to be a minor cyanide loss mechanism in the heap leach operations at the three mines, and precipitation as cyanometallic compounds, and possibly coprecipitation with ferric oxides, is inferred to be an important loss mechanism. Isotopic analysis of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) shows that uptake of high d13C air CO2 has been important in many barren and pregnant solutions. However, DIC in reclaim pond waters at all three mines has low d13C values of -28 to -34 ? indicating cyanide breakdown either by hydrolysis or by other chemical pathways that break the C-N bond. Isotope mass balance calculations indicate that about 40 % of the DIC load in the ponds, at a minimum, was derived from cyanide breakdown. This level of cyanide hydrolysis accounts for 14-100 % of the dissolved inorganic nitrogen species present in the ponds. Overall, isotope data provide quantitative evidence that only minor amounts of cyanide are lost via offgassing and that significant amounts are destroyed via hydrolysis and related pathways. The data also highlight the possibility that significant cyanide may be either retained in the ore heaps or destroyed via other chemical pathways.

  13. Long-term persistence of seeded grass species: an unwanted side effect of ecological restoration.

    PubMed

    Rydgren, Knut; Auestad, Inger; Hamre, Liv Norunn; Hagen, Dagmar; Rosef, Line; Skjerdal, Gudrun

    2016-07-01

    Spoil heaps are the visible footprint of hydropower production, particularly in vulnerable alpine environments. Speeding up vegetation development by seeding commercial grass species has been a common restoration practice for the last 50 years, but we lack information on whether seeded species decline and allow native plant cover to develop. We visually estimated cover of native vascular plants and five seeded grass species (Agrostis capillaris, Festuca ovina, Festuca rubra, Schedonorus pratensis and Phleum pratense) on eight spoil heaps at different elevations (boreal-alpine zone) in western Norway. Spoil heap vegetation was censused twice (9-20 and 24-36 years after spoil heap construction); the undisturbed surrounding vegetation was also censused on the second occasion. Total cover on the spoil heaps showed some increase, but remained far below that in surrounding areas. Cover of seeded grass species in the surroundings was low (but not negligible), indicating suboptimal establishment ability. Seeded species usually covered less than 20 % of the spoil heaps, and only F. rubra, F. ovina and A. capillaris contributed substantially. Proportional cover indicated better initial establishment by seeded species, but their cover decreased between the censuses on all but the highest located spoil heap. The persistence of seeded grass species is problematic, and despite the decrease in proportional cover, they are likely to persist for decades on spoil heaps, posing a risk of invasion of surrounding areas. We therefore recommend replacing the practice of seeding with more appropriate restoration measures.

  14. 77 FR 17104 - Culturally Significant Objects Imported for Exhibition Determinations: “Ecstatic Alphabets/Heaps...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-03-23

    ... DEPARTMENT OF STATE [Public Notice: 7830] Culturally Significant Objects Imported for Exhibition Determinations: ``Ecstatic Alphabets/Heaps of Language'' SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given of the following... exhibition ``Ecstatic Alphabets/Heaps of Language,'' imported from abroad for temporary exhibition within the...

  15. Prediction of AMD generation potential in mining waste piles, in the Sarcheshmeh porphyry copper deposit, Iran.

    PubMed

    Modabberi, Soroush; Alizadegan, Ali; Mirnejad, Hassan; Esmaeilzadeh, Esmat

    2013-11-01

    This study investigates the possibility of acid mine drainage (AMD) generation in active and derelict mine waste piles in Sarcheshmeh Copper Mine produced in several decades, using static tests including acid-base accounting (ABA) and net acid-generating pH (NAGpH). In this study, 51 composite samples were taken from 11 waste heaps, and static ABA and NAGpH tests were carried out on samples. While some piles are acid producing at present and AMD is discharging from the piles, most of them do not show any indication on their AMD potential, and they were investigated to define their acid-producing potential. The analysis of data indicates that eight waste piles are potentially acid generating with net neutralization potentials (NNPs) of -56.18 to -199.3, net acid generating of 2.19-3.31, and NPRs from 0.18 to 0.44. Other waste piles exhibited either a very low sulfur, high carbonate content or excess carbonate over sulfur; hence, they are not capable of acid production or they can be considered as weak acid producers. Consistency between results of ABA and NAGpH tests using a variety of classification criteria validates these tests as powerful means for preliminary evaluation of AMD/ARD possibilities in any mining district. It is also concluded that some of the piles with very negative NNPs are capable to produce AMD naturally, and they can be used in heap leaching process for economic recovery of trace amounts of metals without applying any biostimulation methods.

  16. The copper spoil heap Knappenberg, Austria, as a model for metal habitats - Vegetation, substrate and contamination.

    PubMed

    Adlassnig, Wolfram; Weiss, Yasmin S; Sassmann, Stefan; Steinhauser, Georg; Hofhansl, Florian; Baumann, Nils; Lichtscheidl, Irene K; Lang, Ingeborg

    2016-09-01

    Historic mining in the Eastern Alps has left us with a legacy of numerous spoil heaps hosting specific, metal tolerant vegetation. Such habitats are characterized by elevated concentrations of toxic elements but also by high irradiation, a poorly developed substrate or extreme pH of the soil. This study investigates the distribution of vascular plants, mosses and lichens on a copper spoil heap on the ore bearing Knappenberg formed by Prebichl Layers and Werfener Schist in Lower Austria. It serves as a model for discriminating between various ecological traits and their effects on vegetation. Five distinct clusters were distinguished: (1) The bare, metal rich Central Spoil Heap was only colonised by highly resistant specialists. (2) The Northern and (3) Southern Peripheries contained less copper; the contrasting vegetation was best explained by the different microclimate. (4) A forest over acidic bedrock hosted a vegetation overlapping with the periphery of the spoil heap. (5) A forest over calcareous bedrock was similar to the spoil heap with regard to pH and humus content but hosted a vegetation differing strongly to all other habitats. Among the multiple toxic elements at the spoil heap, only Cu seems to exert a crucial influence on the vegetation pattern. Besides metal concentrations, irradiation, humidity, humus, pH and grain size distribution are important for the establishment of a metal tolerant vegetation. The difference between the species poor Northern and the diverse Southern Periphery can be explained by the microclimate rather than by the substrate. All plant species penetrating from the forest into the periphery of the spoil heap originate from the acidic but not from the calcareous bedrock. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  17. ESS Smelting Technology

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Erasmus, L. J.; Fourie, L. J.

    2017-02-01

    The envirosteel smelter is a rectangular furnace with a large free board volume and multiple channel inductors mounted below the hearth. The raw materials are charged against the back wall forming an inclined heap sloping toward the front long wall. The feed blend is spread in thin layers over the surface of the heap and is heated by exposure to radiation from the free board. Reducing conditions in the top layer of the heap permit gas-solid reduction. Metal, in the hearth of the furnace, flows into the channel inductor where it is heated. The heated metal flows back against the front long wall to under the heap. The bottom of the heap is continuously melted by energy transferred from the metal layer. The two off-gas ducts are located in the short end walls. The combustion air is heated to around 800°C by a furnace gas in an external heat exchanger.

  18. Event heap: a coordination infrastructure for dynamic heterogeneous application interactions in ubiquitous computing environments

    DOEpatents

    Johanson, Bradley E.; Fox, Armando; Winograd, Terry A.; Hanrahan, Patrick M.

    2010-04-20

    An efficient and adaptive middleware infrastructure called the Event Heap system dynamically coordinates application interactions and communications in a ubiquitous computing environment, e.g., an interactive workspace, having heterogeneous software applications running on various machines and devices across different platforms. Applications exchange events via the Event Heap. Each event is characterized by a set of unordered, named fields. Events are routed by matching certain attributes in the fields. The source and target versions of each field are automatically set when an event is posted or used as a template. The Event Heap system implements a unique combination of features, both intrinsic to tuplespaces and specific to the Event Heap, including content based addressing, support for routing patterns, standard routing fields, limited data persistence, query persistence/registration, transparent communication, self-description, flexible typing, logical/physical centralization, portable client API, at most once per source first-in-first-out ordering, and modular restartability.

  19. Natural self-reclamation of soils and landscapes affected by agriculture and mining

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Alekseenko, Vladimir; Bech, Jaume; Alekseenko, Alexey; Shvydkaya, Natalya; Puzanov, Alexander; Roca, Núria

    2017-04-01

    Processes of possible self-restoration of technogenically disturbed soils are studied in Central and Southern European Russia. Reclamation procedures are mainly not implemented in this vast region, and the natural soil restoration is supposed. Heaps overlaying the former steppe and cropland landscapes are created in the course of rock waste stacking after preparative and cleaning mining works during the underground coal extraction. Approximately 1 500 heaps occupying over 8 000 ha were formed in the area of the Donets Coal Basin. Soils are destroyed under heaps, land subsidence occurs in coal mining areas and acid lakes are usually formed in these ground depressions. Spontaneous combustions happen often and can continue for decades. In order to prevent them, heap surfaces are in some cases levelled and filled with water, forming peculiar ponds. After 70 years of heaps existence and ca. 50 years after their ignition, soil formation is just in the early stages. Heap surface differs a lot in geochemical and mineralogical characteristics from those of surrounding steppe soils that suffered substantial changes at distances up to 1 km. Development of plant communities in areas near coal dumps and heaps is one of the indicators of landscape-geochemical changes. Formation of ruderal phytocenoses with 10-15 % of local flora, as well as invasive and introduced plants occurred under the complex impact of ecological conditions. Communities formed by them are distinguished by the structure simplicity, low species diversity, and plant growth anomalies. Quarries and dumps are formed during underground and open-cast mining of ore deposits. During the last 50 years after abandoning mines in forest areas, the 30 m deep quarries have filled with the creep material less for 0.5 m, and sediments from water streams have added 1-3 cm. Thickness of argillaceous layers does not exceed 1-2 cm at small rock chips of the dumps that measures up to 70 km in length. The dumps are partially covered with woody vegetation. As compared to the zonal vegetation, communities of abandoned mines are characterised by 4-5 times lower biomass, structure simplicity, medium or low species diversity, slow growth and reduced vitality of forest-forming species. With a large volume of stripping works, dump areas amount to the first hectares, and they are almost bare even 50 years later. Soils of vineyards abandoned 25 years ago are different from soils of previously existed forest landscapes by heightened average concentrations of Ba, Cr, Cu, and Mo and decreased levels of Li and Ga. Accumulation is up to 42 t/km2 and takeout is up to 6 t/km 2. Soils of tea plantations are characterised by enriched contents of Mn and Ti (hundreds of t/km 2) and decreased levels of Ba, Li, Pb, Be, Yb, and Ge (up to 54 t/km 2), as compared to soils of forest landscapes. Thus, without implementation of special reclamation measures after deposit mining and agronomic activities, self-restoration does not take place even in 50 years. Estimates allow us to assume that natural reclamation will occur in hundreds of years. Keywords: Technosols, self-restoration, self-combustion, flooding.

  20. Extremophiles in Mineral Sulphide Heaps: Some Bacterial Responses to Variable Temperature, Acidity and Solution Composition

    PubMed Central

    Watling, Helen R.; Shiers, Denis W.; Collinson, David M.

    2015-01-01

    In heap bioleaching, acidophilic extremophiles contribute to enhanced metal extraction from mineral sulphides through the oxidation of Fe(II) and/or reduced inorganic sulphur compounds (RISC), such as elemental sulphur or mineral sulphides, or the degradation of organic compounds derived from the ore, biota or reagents used during mineral processing. The impacts of variable solution acidity and composition, as well as temperature on the three microbiological functions have been examined for up to four bacterial species found in mineral sulphide heaps. The results indicate that bacteria adapt to sufficiently high metal concentrations (Cu, Ni, Co, Zn, As) to allow them to function in mineral sulphide heaps and, by engaging alternative metabolic pathways, to extend the solution pH range over which growth is sustained. Fluctuating temperatures during start up in sulphide heaps pose the greatest threat to efficient bacterial colonisation. The large masses of ores in bioleaching heaps mean that high temperatures arising from sulphide oxidation are hard to control initially, when the sulphide content of the ore is greatest. During that period, mesophilic and moderately thermophilic bacteria are markedly reduced in both numbers and activity. PMID:27682094

  1. Incremental triangulation by way of edge swapping and local optimization

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Wiltberger, N. Lyn

    1994-01-01

    This document is intended to serve as an installation, usage, and basic theory guide for the two dimensional triangulation software 'HARLEY' written for the Silicon Graphics IRIS workstation. This code consists of an incremental triangulation algorithm based on point insertion and local edge swapping. Using this basic strategy, several types of triangulations can be produced depending on user selected options. For example, local edge swapping criteria can be chosen which minimizes the maximum interior angle (a MinMax triangulation) or which maximizes the minimum interior angle (a MaxMin or Delaunay triangulation). It should be noted that the MinMax triangulation is generally only locally optical (not globally optimal) in this measure. The MaxMin triangulation, however, is both locally and globally optical. In addition, Steiner triangulations can be constructed by inserting new sites at triangle circumcenters followed by edge swapping based on the MaxMin criteria. Incremental insertion of sites also provides flexibility in choosing cell refinement criteria. A dynamic heap structure has been implemented in the code so that once a refinement measure is specified (i.e., maximum aspect ratio or some measure of a solution gradient for the solution adaptive grid generation) the cell with the largest value of this measure is continually removed from the top of the heap and refined. The heap refinement strategy allows the user to specify either the number of cells desired or refine the mesh until all cell refinement measures satisfy a user specified tolerance level. Since the dynamic heap structure is constantly updated, the algorithm always refines the particular cell in the mesh with the largest refinement criteria value. The code allows the user to: triangulate a cloud of prespecified points (sites), triangulate a set of prespecified interior points constrained by prespecified boundary curve(s), Steiner triangulate the interior/exterior of prespecified boundary curve(s), refine existing triangulations based on solution error measures, and partition meshes based on the Cuthill-McKee, spectral, and coordinate bisection strategies.

  2. Reagents and fractions impact on sulphide ore heap bioleaching at Smolnik mine

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Oros, L. M.; Zavada, J.

    2017-10-01

    Mine Smolnik is one of the oldest sulphide ore mines in Europe and it is also an important part of bioleaching development. This paper follows previous attempts to extract residual metals from nearby heaps via variations in bioleaching reagents with regard to recent findings and needs in the related industry. Furthermore, economic and process relations between reagents and chosen heap fractions were also investigated in this case study.

  3. Fast formation of supergene Mn oxides/hydroxides under acidic conditions in the oxic/anoxic transition zone of a shallow aquifer.

    PubMed

    Schäffner, F; Merten, D; Pollok, K; Wagner, S; Knoblauch, S; Langenhorst, F; Büchel, G

    2015-12-01

    Extensive uranium mining in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) in eastern Thuringia and Saxony took place during the period of 1946-1990. During mining activities, pelitic sediments rich in organic carbon and uranium were processed and exposed to oxygen. Subsequent pyrite oxidation and acidic leaching lead to partial contamination of the area with heavy metals and acid mine drainage (AMD) even few years after completion of remediation. One of those areas is the former heap Gessen (Ronneburg, Germany) were the residual contamination can be found 10 m under the base of the former heap containing partly permeable drainage channels. Actually, in such a system, a rapid but locally restricted mineralization of Mn oxides takes place under acidic conditions. This formation can be classified as a natural attenuation process as certain heavy metals, e.g., Cd (up to 6 μg/g), Ni (up to 311 μg/g), Co (up to 133 μg/g), and Zn (up to 104 μg/g) are bound to this phases. The secondary minerals occur as colored layers close to the shallow aquifer in glacial sediments and could be identified as birnessite and todorokite as Mn phase. The thermodynamic model shows that even small changes in the system are sufficient to shift either the pH or the Eh in the direction of stable Mn oxide phases in this acidic system. As a consequence of 9-15-year-long formation process (or even less), the supergene mineralization provides a cost-efficient contribution for remediation (natural attenuation) strategies of residual with heavy metals (e.g., Cd, Co, Ni, Zn) contaminated substrates.

  4. Evaluation of Physical Coverings Used To Control Escherichia coli O157:H7 at the Compost Heap Surface ▿ †

    PubMed Central

    Shepherd, Marion W.; Kim, Jinkyung; Jiang, Xiuping; Doyle, Michael P.; Erickson, Marilyn C.

    2011-01-01

    Throughout four field trials, compost heaps covered with finished compost maintained temperatures under the physical covering that were ca. 7 to 15.5°C higher, resulting in rapid Escherichia coli O157:H7 reduction, than those of the heaps covered with fresh straw or left uncovered. Our results validated recommendations made by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for covering fresh compost. PMID:21622780

  5. How did women count? A note on gender-specific age heaping differences in the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries.

    PubMed

    Földvári, Peter; Van Leeuwen, Bas; Van Leeuwen-Li, Jieli

    2012-01-01

    The role of human capital in economic growth is now largely uncontested. One indicator of human capital frequently used for the pre-1900 period is age heaping, which has been increasingly used to measure gender-specific differences. In this note, we find that in some historical samples, married women heap significantly less than unmarried women. This is still true after correcting for possible selection effects. A possible explanation is that a percentage of women adapted their ages to that of their husbands, hence biasing the Whipple index. We find the same effect to a lesser extent for men. Since this bias differs over time and across countries, a consistent comparison of female age heaping should be made by focusing on unmarried women.

  6. Impacts of leachates from livestock carcass burial and manure heap sites on groundwater geochemistry and microbial community structure

    PubMed Central

    Yun, Seong-Taek; Ham, Baknoon; Lee, Jeong-Ho; Oh, Jun-Seop; Jheong, Weon-Wha

    2017-01-01

    We investigated the impacts of leachates from a swine carcass burial site and a cow manure heap on the geochemical and microbiological properties of agricultural water samples, including leachate, groundwater from monitoring wells and background wells, and stream water. The leachate from the livestock burial site showed extremely high electrical conductivity, turbidity, and major ion concentrations, but low redox potential and dissolved oxygen levels. The groundwater in the monitoring wells adjacent to both sites showed severe contamination from the leachate, as indicated by the increases in EC, turbidity, Cl-, and SO42-. Bacteria from the phylum Firmicutes and Bacteriodetes and Archaea from the phylum Euryarchaeota were the major phyla in both the leachates and manure heap. However, the class- or genus-level components of these phyla differed markedly between the leachate and manure heap samples. The relative abundance of Firmicutes decreased from 35% to 0.3~13.9% in the monitoring wells and background wells at both sites. The Firmicutes in these wells was unlikely to have originated from the transportation of leachate to the surrounding environment because Firmicutes genera differed drastically between the leachate and monitoring wells. Meanwhile, sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) from the livestock carcass burial site were detected in the monitoring wells close to the leachate. This was likely because the release of carcass decomposition products, such as organic acids, to adjacent areas improved the suitability of the local environments for SRB, which were not abundant in the leachate. This study highlights the need to better understand microbial community dynamics along groundwater flow paths to evaluate bacterial transport in subsurface environments and provides new insights into the effective management of groundwater quality at both farm and regional scales. PMID:28771598

  7. Phytoremediation using microbially mediated metal accumulation in Sorghum bicolor.

    PubMed

    Phieler, René; Merten, Dirk; Roth, Martin; Büchel, Georg; Kothe, Erika

    2015-12-01

    Reclaiming land that has been anthropogenically contaminated with multiple heavy metal elements, e.g., during mining operations, is a growing challenge worldwide. The use of phytoremediation has been discussed with varying success. Here, we show that a careful examination of options of microbial determination of plant performance is a key element in providing a multielement remediation option for such landscapes. We used both (a) mycorrhiza with Rhizophagus irregularis and (b) bacterial amendments with Streptomyces acidiscabies E13 and Streptomyces tendae F4 to mediate plant-promoting and metal-accumulating properties to Sorghum bicolor. In pot experiments, the effects on plant growth and metal uptake were scored, and in a field trial at a former uranium leaching heap site near Ronneburg, Germany, we could show the efficacy under field conditions. Different metals could be extracted at the same time, with varying microbial inoculation and soil amendment scenarios possible when a certain metal is the focus of interest. Especially, manganese was extracted at very high levels which might be useful even for phytomining approaches.

  8. Fast heap transform-based QR-decomposition of real and complex matrices: algorithms and codes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Grigoryan, Artyom M.

    2015-03-01

    In this paper, we describe a new look on the application of Givens rotations to the QR-decomposition problem, which is similar to the method of Householder transformations. We apply the concept of the discrete heap transform, or signal-induced unitary transforms which had been introduced by Grigoryan (2006) and used in signal and image processing. Both cases of real and complex nonsingular matrices are considered and examples of performing QR-decomposition of square matrices are given. The proposed method of QR-decomposition for the complex matrix is novel and differs from the known method of complex Givens rotation and is based on analytical equations for the heap transforms. Many examples illustrated the proposed heap transform method of QR-decomposition are given, algorithms are described in detail, and MATLAB-based codes are included.

  9. Stratification, segregation, and mixing of granular materials in quasi-two-dimensional bounded heaps.

    PubMed

    Fan, Yi; Boukerkour, Youcef; Blanc, Thibault; Umbanhowar, Paul B; Ottino, Julio M; Lueptow, Richard M

    2012-11-01

    Segregation and mixing of granular mixtures during heap formation has important consequences in industry and agriculture. This research investigates three different final particle configurations of bidisperse granular mixtures--stratified, segregated and mixed--during filling of quasi-two-dimensional silos. We consider a large number and wide range of control parameters, including particle size ratio, flow rate, system size, and heap rise velocity. The boundary between stratified and unstratified states is primarily controlled by the two-dimensional flow rate, with the critical flow rate for the transition depending weakly on particle size ratio and flowing layer length. In contrast, the transition from segregated to mixed states is controlled by the rise velocity of the heap, a control parameter not previously considered. The critical rise velocity for the transition depends strongly on the particle size ratio.

  10. Biomining: metal recovery from ores with microorganisms.

    PubMed

    Schippers, Axel; Hedrich, Sabrina; Vasters, Jürgen; Drobe, Malte; Sand, Wolfgang; Willscher, Sabine

    2014-01-01

    Biomining is an increasingly applied biotechnological procedure for processing of ores in the mining industry (biohydrometallurgy). Nowadays the production of copper from low-grade ores is the most important industrial application and a significant part of world copper production already originates from heap or dump/stockpile bioleaching. Conceptual differences exist between the industrial processes of bioleaching and biooxidation. Bioleaching is a conversion of an insoluble valuable metal into a soluble form by means of microorganisms. In biooxidation, on the other hand, gold is predominantly unlocked from refractory ores in large-scale stirred-tank biooxidation arrangements for further processing steps. In addition to copper and gold production, biomining is also used to produce cobalt, nickel, zinc, and uranium. Up to now, biomining has merely been used as a procedure in the processing of sulfide ores and uranium ore, but laboratory and pilot procedures already exist for the processing of silicate and oxide ores (e.g., laterites), for leaching of processing residues or mine waste dumps (mine tailings), as well as for the extraction of metals from industrial residues and waste (recycling). This chapter estimates the world production of copper, gold, and other metals by means of biomining and chemical leaching (bio-/hydrometallurgy) compared with metal production by pyrometallurgical procedures, and describes new developments in biomining. In addition, an overview is given about metal sulfide oxidizing microorganisms, fundamentals of biomining including bioleaching mechanisms and interface processes, as well as anaerobic bioleaching and bioleaching with heterotrophic microorganisms.

  11. Metagenome-scale analysis yields insights into the structure and function of microbial communities in a copper bioleaching heap.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Xian; Niu, Jiaojiao; Liang, Yili; Liu, Xueduan; Yin, Huaqun

    2016-01-19

    Metagenomics allows us to acquire the potential resources from both cultivatable and uncultivable microorganisms in the environment. Here, shotgun metagenome sequencing was used to investigate microbial communities from the surface layer of low grade copper tailings that were industrially bioleached at the Dexing Copper Mine, China. A bioinformatics analysis was further performed to elucidate structural and functional properties of the microbial communities in a copper bioleaching heap. Taxonomic analysis revealed unexpectedly high microbial biodiversity of this extremely acidic environment, as most sequences were phylogenetically assigned to Proteobacteria, while Euryarchaeota-related sequences occupied little proportion in this system, assuming that Archaea probably played little role in the bioleaching systems. At the genus level, the microbial community in mineral surface-layer was dominated by the sulfur- and iron-oxidizing acidophiles such as Acidithiobacillus-like populations, most of which were A. ferrivorans-like and A. ferrooxidans-like groups. In addition, Caudovirales were the dominant viral type observed in this extremely environment. Functional analysis illustrated that the principal participants related to the key metabolic pathways (carbon fixation, nitrogen metabolism, Fe(II) oxidation and sulfur metabolism) were mainly identified to be Acidithiobacillus-like, Thiobacillus-like and Leptospirillum-like microorganisms, indicating their vital roles. Also, microbial community harbored certain adaptive mechanisms (heavy metal resistance, low pH adaption, organic solvents tolerance and detoxification of hydroxyl radicals) as they performed their functions in the bioleaching system. Our study provides several valuable datasets for understanding the microbial community composition and function in the surface-layer of copper bioleaching heap.

  12. Agricultural land contamination by heavy metals around the former mining site of Bechateur (northern Tunisia)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Daldoul, G.; Soussi, R.; Soussi, F.; Boularbah, A.

    2012-04-01

    The activity of the former Pb-Zn mine of Jebel Ghozlen (Béchateur. extreme northern Tunisia) generated during the last century large quantities of tailings (extraction, flotation, gravimetry) deposited as three heap between the mine site and the shoreline located 700 m away. Areas surrounding the mine site are agricultural and are crossed by two rivers, one of which crosses the main heap. The minerals that make up these wastes are calcite, dolomite, quartz, gypsum, pyrite, barite, smithsonite, cerussite and galena. The amounts of Zn, Cd and Pb in the wastes vary between 1.3 and 9.3%, 1.1% and 5.7 and 185 and 410 mg kg-1, respectively. Soils in the study area are carbonated and are characterized by a silt-sand texture. The clay fraction is dominated by kaolinite. The chemical analysis of thirty samples collected over an area of 3 km2 shows that the amounts of total organic carbon (TOC) and total sulfur vary from 0.7 % to 2.5 % and 0.08 % to 0.96 %, respectively, while those of Zn, Pb and Cd range from 300 to 22 000 mg kg-1, 85 to 3000 mg kg-1 and 2 to 47 mg kg-1, respectively. The highest concentrations of metals were found in flood plains at 500 m downstream of the mine site. Extraction tests using deionized water and a 0.1 M CaCl2 solution were performed to assess the mobility of Zn, Pb and Cd in contaminated and reference soil samples collected within the study area. The results of extraction with deionized water showed that the leached amounts of Zn and Cd range between 0.2 and 4 mg kg-1 and 0.02 and 0.2 mg kg-1, respectively; while that of Pb is quite near the detection limit. During the extraction with CaCl2 the leached amounts of Zn, Pb and Cd range from 0.3 to 86 mg kg-1, 2 to 6 mg kg-1 and 0.05 to 0.9 mg kg-1, respectively. Thus, the mobility of Cd, Zn and Pb in CaCl2 solution (0.8 %, 0.4 % and 0.3 %, respectively) is higher compared with the extraction with deionized water (0.2%, 0.1% and 0.02 %, respectively). Toxicity tests were conducted on these soils using the MetPlate method. The results show a low bioavailability of contaminants.

  13. Deviations in the Zipf and Heaps laws in natural languages

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bochkarev, Vladimir V.; Lerner, Eduard Yu; Shevlyakova, Anna V.

    2014-03-01

    This paper is devoted to verifying of the empirical Zipf and Hips laws in natural languages using Google Books Ngram corpus data. The connection between the Zipf and Heaps law which predicts the power dependence of the vocabulary size on the text size is discussed. In fact, the Heaps exponent in this dependence varies with the increasing of the text corpus. To explain it, the obtained results are compared with the probability model of text generation. Quasi-periodic variations with characteristic time periods of 60-100 years were also found.

  14. Seven Ways to Kill RTI

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Noll, Brandi

    2013-01-01

    The Response to Intervention initiative is in danger of failing and being thrown on the ash heaps of countless education reform initiatives, but not because it is poorly structured, rather on account of poor implementation. Among the implementation mistakes are seven that can be watched for and avoided. (Contains 3 tables.)

  15. The accumulation of elements in plants growing spontaneously on small heaps left by the historical Zn-Pb ore mining.

    PubMed

    Stefanowicz, Anna M; Stanek, Małgorzata; Woch, Marcin W; Kapusta, Paweł

    2016-04-01

    The study evaluated the levels of nine metals, namely Ca, Cd, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Pb, Tl, and Zn, in soils and tissues of ten plant species growing spontaneously on heaps left by historical mining for Zn-Pb ores. The concentrations of Cd, Pb, Tl, and Zn in heap soils were much higher than in control soils. Plants growing on heaps accumulated excessive amounts of these elements in tissues, on average 1.3-52 mg Cd kg(-1), 9.4-254 mg Pb kg(-1), 0.06-23 mg Tl kg(-1) and 134-1479 mg Zn kg(-1) in comparison to 0.5-1.1 mg Cd kg(-1), 2.1-11 mg Pb kg(-1), 0.02-0.06 mg Tl kg(-1), and 23-124 mg Zn kg(-1) in control plants. The highest concentrations of Cd, Pb, and Zn were found in the roots of Euphorbia cyparissias, Fragaria vesca, and Potentilla arenaria, and Tl in Plantago lanceolata. Many species growing on heaps were enriched in K and Mg, and depleted in Ca, Fe, and Mn. The concentrations of all elements in plant tissues were dependent on species, organ (root vs. shoot), and species-organ interactions. Average concentrations of Ca, K, and Mg were generally higher in shoots than in roots or similar in the two organs, whereas Cd, Fe, Pb, Tl, and Zn were accumulated predominantly in the roots. Our results imply that heaps left by historical mining for Zn-Pb ores may pose a potential threat to the environment and human health.

  16. Vertical Object Layout and Compression for Fixed Heaps

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Titzer, Ben L.; Palsberg, Jens

    Research into embedded sensor networks has placed increased focus on the problem of developing reliable and flexible software for microcontroller-class devices. Languages such as nesC [10] and Virgil [20] have brought higher-level programming idioms to this lowest layer of software, thereby adding expressiveness. Both languages are marked by the absence of dynamic memory allocation, which removes the need for a runtime system to manage memory. While nesC offers code modules with statically allocated fields, arrays and structs, Virgil allows the application to allocate and initialize arbitrary objects during compilation, producing a fixed object heap for runtime. This paper explores techniques for compressing fixed object heaps with the goal of reducing the RAM footprint of a program. We explore table-based compression and introduce a novel form of object layout called vertical object layout. We provide experimental results that measure the impact on RAM size, code size, and execution time for a set of Virgil programs. Our results show that compressed vertical layout has better execution time and code size than table-based compression while achieving more than 20% heap reduction on 6 of 12 benchmark programs and 2-17% heap reduction on the remaining 6. We also present a formalization of vertical object layout and prove tight relationships between three styles of object layout.

  17. Leaching behavior and chemical stability of copper butyl xanthate complex under acidic conditions.

    PubMed

    Chang, Yi Kuo; Chang, Juu En; Chiang, Li Choung

    2003-08-01

    Although xanthate addition can be used for treating copper-containing wastewater, a better understanding of the leaching toxicity and the stability characteristics of the copper xanthate complexes formed is essential. This work was undertaken to evaluate the leaching behavior of copper xanthate complex precipitates by means of toxicity characteristics leaching procedure (TCLP) and semi-dynamic leaching test (SDLT) using 1 N acetic acid solution as the leachant. Also, the chemical stability of the copper xanthate complex during extraction has been examined with the studying of variation of chemical structure using UV-vis, Fourier transform infrared and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopies (XPS). Both TCLP and SDLT results showed that a negligible amount of copper ion was leached out from the copper xanthate complex precipitate, indicating that the complex exhibited a high degree of copper leaching stability under acidic conditions. Nevertheless, chemical structure of the copper xanthate complex precipitate varied during the leaching tests. XPS data suggested that the copper xanthate complex initially contained both cupric and cuprous xanthate, but the unstable cupric xanthate change to the cuprous form after acid extraction, indicating the cuprous xanthate to be the final stabilizing structure. Despite that, the changes of chemical structure did not induce the rapid leaching of copper from the copper xanthate complex.

  18. Accounting for Heaping in Retrospectively Reported Event Data – A Mixture-Model Approach

    PubMed Central

    Bar, Haim Y.; Lillard, Dean R.

    2012-01-01

    When event data are retrospectively reported, more temporally distal events tend to get “heaped” on even multiples of reporting units. Heaping may introduce a type of attenuation bias because it causes researchers to mismatch time-varying right-hand side variables. We develop a model-based approach to estimate the extent of heaping in the data, and how it affects regression parameter estimates. We use smoking cessation data as a motivating example, but our method is general. It facilitates the use of retrospective data from the multitude of cross-sectional and longitudinal studies worldwide that collect and potentially could collect event data. PMID:22733577

  19. Hybrid Memory Management for Parallel Execution of Prolog on Shared Memory Multiprocessors

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1990-06-01

    organizing data to increase locality. The stack structure exhibits greater locality than the heap structure. Tradeoff decisions can also be made on...PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR(S) 5d. PROJECT NUMBER 5e. TASK NUMBER 5f. WORK UNIT NUMBER 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES...University of California at Berkeley,Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences,Berkeley,CA,94720 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT

  20. The microbiology of biomining: development and optimization of mineral-oxidizing microbial consortia.

    PubMed

    Rawlings, Douglas E; Johnson, D Barrie

    2007-02-01

    Biomining, the use of micro-organisms to recover precious and base metals from mineral ores and concentrates, has developed into a successful and expanding area of biotechnology. While careful considerations are made in the design and engineering of biomining operations, microbiological aspects have been subjected to far less scrutiny and control. Biomining processes employ microbial consortia that are dominated by acidophilic, autotrophic iron- or sulfur-oxidizing prokaryotes. Mineral biooxidation takes place in highly aerated, continuous-flow, stirred-tank reactors or in irrigated dump or heap reactors, both of which provide an open, non-sterile environment. Continuous-flow, stirred tanks are characterized by homogeneous and constant growth conditions where the selection is for rapid growth, and consequently tank consortia tend to be dominated by two or three species of micro-organisms. In contrast, heap reactors provide highly heterogeneous growth environments that change with the age of the heap, and these tend to be colonized by a much greater variety of micro-organisms. Heap micro-organisms grow as biofilms that are not subject to washout and the major challenge is to provide sufficient biodiversity for optimum performance throughout the life of a heap. This review discusses theoretical and pragmatic aspects of assembling microbial consortia to process different mineral ores and concentrates, and the challenges for using constructed consortia in non-sterile industrial-scale operations.

  1. Alpha emitting radionuclides in drainage from Quinta do Bispo and Cunha Baixa uranium mines (Portugal) and associated radiotoxicological risk.

    PubMed

    Carvalho, Fernando P; Oliveira, João M; Faria, Isabel

    2009-11-01

    Two large uranium mines, Quinta do Bispo and Cunha Baixa, district of Viseu, North of Portugal, were exploited until 1991. Sulfuric acid was used for in situ uranium leaching in Cunha Baixa mine and for heap leaching of low grade ores at both mines. Large amounts of mining and milling residues were accumulated nearby. Since closure of mines, the treatment of acid mine waters has been maintained and treated water is released into surface water lines. Analysis of radionuclides in the soluble phase and in the suspended matter of water samples from the uranium mines, from the creeks receiving the discharges of mine effluents, from the rivers and from wells in this area, show an enhancement of radioactivity levels. For example, downstream the discharge of mine effluents into Castelo Stream, the concentrations of dissolved uranium isotopes and uranium daughters were up to 14 times the concentrations measured upstream; (238)U concentration in suspended particulate matter of Castelo Stream reached 72 kBq kg(-1), which is about 170 times higher than background concentrations in Mondego River. Nevertheless, radionuclide concentrations decreased rapidly to near background values within a distance of about 7 kilometers from the discharge point. Enhancement of radioactivity in underground waters was positively correlated with a decrease in water pH and with an increase of sulfate ion concentration, pointing out to Cunha Baixa mine as the source of groundwater contamination. The radiotoxic exposure risk arising from using these well waters as drinking water and as irrigation water is discussed and implementation of environmental remediation measures is advised.

  2. Gaseous Oxidized Mercury Flux from Substrates Associated with Industrial Scale Gold Mining in Nevada, USA

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Miller, M. B.

    2015-12-01

    Gaseous elemental and oxidized mercury (Hg) fluxes were measured in a laboratory setting from substrate materials derived from industrial-scale open pit gold mining operations in Nevada, USA. Mercury is present in these substrates at a range of concentrations (10 - 40000 ng g-1), predominantly of local geogenic origin in association with the mineralized gold ores, but altered and redistributed to a varying degree by subsequent ore extraction and processing operations, including deposition of Hg recently emitted to the atmosphere from large point sources on the mines. Waste rock, heap leach, and tailings material usually comprise the most extensive and Hg emission relevant substrate surfaces. All three of these material types were collected from active Nevada mine sites in 2010 for previous research, and have since been stored undisturbed at the University of Nevada, Reno. Gaseous elemental Hg (GEM) flux was previously measured from these materials under a variety of conditions, and was re-measured in this study, using Teflon® flux chambers and Tekran® 2537A automated ambient air analyzers. GEM flux from dry undisturbed materials was comparable between the two measurement periods. Gaseous oxidized Hg (GOM) flux from these materials was quantified using an active filter sampling method that consisted of polysulfone cation-exchange membranes deployed in conjunction with the GEM flux apparatus. Initial measurements conducted within greenhouse laboratory space indicate that in dry conditions GOM is deposited to relatively low Hg cap and leach materials, but may be emitted from the much higher Hg concentration tailings material.

  3. Observations on Student Misconceptions--A Case Study of the Build-Heap Algorithm

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Seppala, Otto; Malmi, Lauri; Korhonen, Ari

    2006-01-01

    Data structures and algorithms are core issues in computer programming. However, learning them is challenging for most students and many of them have various types of misconceptions on how algorithms work. In this study, we discuss the problem of identifying misconceptions on the principles of how algorithms work. Our context is algorithm…

  4. A Democratic Structure for School Discipline: Reflections from Two New York City High Schools

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hawkes, T. Elijah

    2011-01-01

    Given the way that student, teacher, principal, and school testing and accountability measures are currently leaning, it is understandable why a child's moral development sometimes gets less attention than her aptitude in algebra. Yet even with nearly all major accountability incentives heaped upon the tests in math and English, there are still…

  5. Item Response Modeling of Multivariate Count Data with Zero Inflation, Maximum Inflation, and Heaping

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Magnus, Brooke E.; Thissen, David

    2017-01-01

    Questionnaires that include items eliciting count responses are becoming increasingly common in psychology. This study proposes methodological techniques to overcome some of the challenges associated with analyzing multivariate item response data that exhibit zero inflation, maximum inflation, and heaping at preferred digits. The modeling…

  6. An Experimental Ecological Study of a Garden Compost Heap.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Curds, Tracy

    1985-01-01

    A quantitative study of the fauna of a garden compost heap shows it to be similar to that of organisms found in soil and leaf litter. Materials, methods, and results are discussed and extensive tables of fauna lists, wet/dry masses, and statistical analyses are presented. (Author/DH)

  7. Effect of milling and leaching on the structure of sintered silicon

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Yeh, H. C.; Glasgow, T. K.; Herbell, T. P.

    1980-01-01

    The effects of attrition milling and acid leaching on the sintering behavior and the resultant structures of two commercial silicon powders were investigated. Sintering was performed in He for 16 hours at 1200, 1250, and 1300 C. Compacts of as-received Si did not densify during sintering. Milling reduced the average particle size to below 0.5 microns and enhanced densification (1.75 g/cc). Leaching milled Si further enhanced densification (1.90 g/cc max.) and decreased structural coarsening. After sintering, the structure of the milled and leached powder compacts appears favorable for the production of reaction bonded silicon nitride.

  8. The molecular structural features controlling stickiness in cooked rice, a major palatability determinant

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, Hongyan; Fitzgerald, Melissa A.; Prakash, Sangeeta; Nicholson, Timothy M.; Gilbert, Robert G.

    2017-03-01

    The stickiness of cooked rice is important for eating quality and consumer acceptance. The first molecular understanding of stickiness is obtained from leaching and molecular structural characteristics during cooking. Starch is a highly branched glucose polymer. We find (i) the molecular size of leached amylopectin is 30 times smaller than that of native amylopectin while (ii) that of leached amylose is 5 times smaller than that of native amylose, (iii) the chain-length distribution (CLD: the number of monomer units in a chain on the branched polymer) of leached amylopectin is similar to native amylopectin while (iv) the CLD of leached amylose is much narrower than that of the native amylose, and (v) mainly amylopectin, not amylose, leaches out of the granule and rice kernel during cooking. Stickiness is found to increase with decreasing amylose content in the whole grain, and, in the leachate, with increasing total amount of amylopectin, the proportion of short amylopectin chains, and amylopectin molecular size. Molecular adhesion mechanisms are put forward to explain this result. This molecular structural mechanism provides a new tool for rice breeders to select cultivars with desirable palatability by quantifying the components and molecular structure of leached starch.

  9. Heaping-Induced Bias in Regression-Discontinuity Designs. NBER Working Paper No. 17408

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Barreca, Alan I.; Lindo, Jason M.; Waddell, Glen R.

    2011-01-01

    This study uses Monte Carlo simulations to demonstrate that regression-discontinuity designs arrive at biased estimates when attributes related to outcomes predict heaping in the running variable. After showing that our usual diagnostics are poorly suited to identifying this type of problem, we provide alternatives. We also demonstrate how the…

  10. Evolution of scaling emergence in large-scale spatial epidemic spreading.

    PubMed

    Wang, Lin; Li, Xiang; Zhang, Yi-Qing; Zhang, Yan; Zhang, Kan

    2011-01-01

    Zipf's law and Heaps' law are two representatives of the scaling concepts, which play a significant role in the study of complexity science. The coexistence of the Zipf's law and the Heaps' law motivates different understandings on the dependence between these two scalings, which has still hardly been clarified. In this article, we observe an evolution process of the scalings: the Zipf's law and the Heaps' law are naturally shaped to coexist at the initial time, while the crossover comes with the emergence of their inconsistency at the larger time before reaching a stable state, where the Heaps' law still exists with the disappearance of strict Zipf's law. Such findings are illustrated with a scenario of large-scale spatial epidemic spreading, and the empirical results of pandemic disease support a universal analysis of the relation between the two laws regardless of the biological details of disease. Employing the United States domestic air transportation and demographic data to construct a metapopulation model for simulating the pandemic spread at the U.S. country level, we uncover that the broad heterogeneity of the infrastructure plays a key role in the evolution of scaling emergence. The analyses of large-scale spatial epidemic spreading help understand the temporal evolution of scalings, indicating the coexistence of the Zipf's law and the Heaps' law depends on the collective dynamics of epidemic processes, and the heterogeneity of epidemic spread indicates the significance of performing targeted containment strategies at the early time of a pandemic disease.

  11. Successful approaches. Sports stars and HEAPS.

    PubMed

    1996-01-01

    In western Samoa, football stars are being used in the fight against acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Originally recruited by Palanitina Toelupe, chief health educator of the Health Education and Promotion Section (HEAPS), to assist with an anti-smoking campaign, the players became sensitized to issues regarding AIDS and agreed to visit high schools where they could urge young people to "Learn the Facts (about AIDS) and Pass the Word." With assistance from the SPC, HEAPS produced and broadcast radio and TV spots featuring the athletes; a poster was printed and distributed. Sports stars travel regionally and internationally; those with knowledge of AIDS and unsafe sex behavior can reinforce responsible sexual behavior among their teammates. Sports people should be targeted for AIDS and sexually transmitted disease (STD) education and prevention.

  12. The effect of data structures on INGRES performance

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Creighton, J.R.

    1987-01-01

    Computer experiments were conducted to determine the effect of using Heap, ISAM, Hash and B-tree data structures for INGRES relations. Average times for retrieve, append and update were determined for searches by unique key and non-key data. The experiments were conducted on relations of approximately 1000 tuples of 332 byte width. Multiple operations were performed, where appropriate, to obtain average times. Simple models of the data structures are presented and shown to be consistent with experimental results. The models can be used to predict performance, and to select the appropriate data structure for various applications.

  13. Evolution of Scaling Emergence in Large-Scale Spatial Epidemic Spreading

    PubMed Central

    Wang, Lin; Li, Xiang; Zhang, Yi-Qing; Zhang, Yan; Zhang, Kan

    2011-01-01

    Background Zipf's law and Heaps' law are two representatives of the scaling concepts, which play a significant role in the study of complexity science. The coexistence of the Zipf's law and the Heaps' law motivates different understandings on the dependence between these two scalings, which has still hardly been clarified. Methodology/Principal Findings In this article, we observe an evolution process of the scalings: the Zipf's law and the Heaps' law are naturally shaped to coexist at the initial time, while the crossover comes with the emergence of their inconsistency at the larger time before reaching a stable state, where the Heaps' law still exists with the disappearance of strict Zipf's law. Such findings are illustrated with a scenario of large-scale spatial epidemic spreading, and the empirical results of pandemic disease support a universal analysis of the relation between the two laws regardless of the biological details of disease. Employing the United States domestic air transportation and demographic data to construct a metapopulation model for simulating the pandemic spread at the U.S. country level, we uncover that the broad heterogeneity of the infrastructure plays a key role in the evolution of scaling emergence. Conclusions/Significance The analyses of large-scale spatial epidemic spreading help understand the temporal evolution of scalings, indicating the coexistence of the Zipf's law and the Heaps' law depends on the collective dynamics of epidemic processes, and the heterogeneity of epidemic spread indicates the significance of performing targeted containment strategies at the early time of a pandemic disease. PMID:21747932

  14. Sptrace

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Burleigh, Scott C.

    2011-01-01

    Sptrace is a general-purpose space utilization tracing system that is conceptually similar to the commercial Purify product used to detect leaks and other memory usage errors. It is designed to monitor space utilization in any sort of heap, i.e., a region of data storage on some device (nominally memory; possibly shared and possibly persistent) with a flat address space. This software can trace usage of shared and/or non-volatile storage in addition to private RAM (random access memory). Sptrace is implemented as a set of C function calls that are invoked from within the software that is being examined. The function calls fall into two broad classes: (1) functions that are embedded within the heap management software [e.g., JPL's SDR (Simple Data Recorder) and PSM (Personal Space Management) systems] to enable heap usage analysis by populating a virtual time-sequenced log of usage activity, and (2) reporting functions that are embedded within the application program whose behavior is suspect. For ease of use, these functions may be wrapped privately inside public functions offered by the heap management software. Sptrace can be used for VxWorks or RTEMS realtime systems as easily as for Linux or OS/X systems.

  15. Influence of Turning and Environmental Contamination on the Dynamics of Populations of Lactic Acid and Acetic Acid Bacteria Involved in Spontaneous Cocoa Bean Heap Fermentation in Ghana▿

    PubMed Central

    Camu, Nicholas; González, Ángel; De Winter, Tom; Van Schoor, Ann; De Bruyne, Katrien; Vandamme, Peter; Takrama, Jemmy S.; Addo, Solomon K.; De Vuyst, Luc

    2008-01-01

    The influence of turning and environmental contamination on six spontaneous cocoa bean heap fermentations performed in Ghana was studied through a multiphasic approach, encompassing both microbiological (culture-dependent and culture-independent techniques) and metabolite target analyses. A sensory analysis of chocolate made from the fermented, dried beans was performed as well. Only four clusters were found among the isolates of acetic acid bacteria (AAB) identified: Acetobacter pasteurianus, Acetobacter ghanensis, Acetobacter senegalensis, and a potential new Acetobacter lovaniensis-like species. Two main clusters were identified among the lactic acid bacteria (LAB) isolated, namely, Lactobacillus plantarum and Lactobacillus fermentum. No differences in biodiversity of LAB and AAB were seen for fermentations carried out at the farm and factory sites, indicating the cocoa pod surfaces and not the general environment as the main inoculum for spontaneous cocoa bean heap fermentation. Turning of the heaps enhanced aeration and increased the relative population size of AAB and the production of acetic acid. This in turn gave a more sour taste to chocolate made from these beans. Bitterness was reduced through losses of polyphenols and alkaloids upon fermentation and cocoa bean processing. PMID:17993565

  16. Stream-Sediment Geochemistry in Mining-Impacted Drainages of the Yankee Fork of the Salmon River, Custer County, Idaho

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Frost, Thomas P.; Box, Stephen E.

    2009-01-01

    This reconnaissance study was undertaken at the request of the USDA Forest Service, Region 4, to assess the geochemistry, in particular the mercury and selenium contents, of mining-impacted sediments in the Yankee Fork of the Salmon River in Custer County Idaho. The Yankee Fork has been the site of hard-rock and placer mining, primarily for gold and silver, starting in the 1880s. Major dredge placer mining from the 1930s to 1950s in the Yankee Fork disturbed about a 10-kilometer reach. Mercury was commonly used in early hard-rock mining and placer operations for amalgamation and recovery of gold. During the late 1970s, feasibility studies were done on cyanide-heap leach recovery of gold from low-grade ores of the Sunbeam and related deposits. In the mid-1990s a major open-pit bulk-vat leach operation was started at the Grouse Creek Mine. This operation shut down when gold values proved to be lower than expected. Mercury in stream sediments in the Yankee Fork ranges from below 0.02 ppm to 7 ppm, with the highest values associated with old mill locations and lode and placer mines. Selenium ranges from below the detection limit for this study of 0.2 ppm to 4 ppm in Yankee Fork sediment samples. The generally elevated selenium content in the sediment samples reflect the generally high selenium contents in the volcanic rocks that underlie the Yankee Fork and the presence of gold and silver selenides in some of the veins that were exploited in the early phases of mining.

  17. Improved adjoin-list for quality-guided phase unwrapping based on red-black trees

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cruz-Santos, William; López-García, Lourdes; Rueda-Paz, Juvenal; Redondo-Galvan, Arturo

    2016-08-01

    The quality-guide phase unwrapping is an important technique that is based on quality maps which guide the unwrapping process. The efficiency of this technique depends in the adjoin-list data structure implementation. There exists several proposals that improve the adjoin-list; Ming Zhao et. al. proposed an Indexed Interwoven Linked List (I2L2) that is based on dividing the quality values into intervals of equal size and inserting in a linked list those pixels with quality values within a certain interval. Ming Zhao and Qian Kemao proposed an improved I2L2 replacing each linked list in each interval by a heap data structure, which allows efficient procedures for insertion and deletion. In this paper, we propose an improved I2L2 which uses Red-Black trees (RBT) data structures for each interval. Our proposal has as main goal to avoid the unbalanced properties of the head and thus, reducing the time complexity of insertion. In order to maintain the same efficiency of the heap when deleting an element, we provide an efficient way to remove the pixel with the highest quality value in the RBT using a pointer to the rightmost element in the tree. We also provide a new partition strategy of the phase values that is based on a density criterion. Experimental results applied to phase shifting profilometry are shown for large images.

  18. Effect of milling and leaching on the structure of sintered silicon

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Yeh, H. C.; Glascow, T. K.; Herbell, T. P.

    1980-01-01

    Sintering was performed in He for 16 hours at 1200, 1250, and 1300 C. Compacts of as-received Si did not densify during sintering. Milling reduced the average particle size to below 0.5 micrometer and enhanced densification (1.75 g/cc). Leaching milled Si further enhanced densification (1.90 g/cc max.) and decreased structural coarsening. After sintering, the structure of the milled and leached powder compacts appears favorable for the production of reaction bonded silicon nitride.

  19. Reducing cassava toxicity by heap-fermentation in Uganda.

    PubMed

    Essers, A J; Ebong, C; van der Grift, R M; Nout, M J; Otim-Nape, W; Rosling, H

    1995-05-01

    Processing of cassava roots by the Alur tribe in Uganda includes a stage of solid substrate fermentation in heaps. Changes in cyanogen levels during the process, microflora involved, and protein levels, amino acid patterns and mycotoxin contamination of the final products were studied. Processing was monitored at six rural households and repeated at laboratory site, comparing it to sun-drying. Flour samples from rural households were analysed for residual cyanogens, mutagenicity, cytotoxicity and aflatoxins. Mean (+/- SD) total cyanogen levels in flours collected at rural households were 20.3 (+/- 16.8) mg CN equivalents kg-1 dry weight in 1990 (n = 23) and 65.7 (+/- 56.7) in 1992 (n = 21). Mean (+/- SD) levels of cyanohydrins plus HCN were 9.1 (+/- 8.7) in the 1992 flours. Total cyanogen levels in the village monitored batches were reduced considerably by heap-fermentation from 436.3 (+/- 140.7) to 20.4 (+/- 14.0) mg CN equivalents kg-1 dry weight cassava. Residual cyanogen levels were positively correlated with particle size of the resulting crumbs. Heap-fermentation was significantly more effective in reducing cyanogen levels than sun-drying alone, but did not always result in innocuous levels of of cyanogens. Dominant mycelial growth was from the fungi Neurospora sitophila, Geotrichum candidum and Rhizopus oryzae. No mutagenicity, cytotoxicity nor aflatoxins could be detected in the flours. Protein quantity and quality were not significantly reduced. Cassava gel viscosity pattern was modified to the consumers' preference by this method. As the removal of cyanogens was more efficient and we found no new obvious health risk, heap-fermentation can be regarded as an improvement compared to sun-drying alone in areas where cassava varieties with higher cyanogen levels prevail, but we recommend optimisation of the process for ensuring still safer products.

  20. Classification of rice grain varieties arranged in scattered and heap fashion using image processing

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bhat, Sudhanva; Panat, Sreedath; N, Arunachalam

    2017-03-01

    Inspection and classification of food grains is a manual process in many of the food grain processing industries. Automation of such a process is going to be beneficial for industries facing shortage of skilled workforce. Machine Vision techniques are some of the popular approaches for developing such automations. Most of the existing works on the topic deal with identification of the rice variety by analyzing images of well separated and isolated rice grains from which a lot of geometrical features can be extracted. This paper proposes techniques to estimate geometrical parameters from the images of scattered as well as heaped rice grains where the grain boundaries are not clearly identifiable. A methodology based on convexity is proposed to separate touching rice grains in the scattered rice grain images and get their geometrical parameters. And in case of heaped arrangement a Pixel-Distance Contribution Function is defined and is used to get points inside rice grains and then to find the boundary points of rice grains. These points are fit with the equation of an ellipse to estimate their lengths and breadths. The proposed techniques are applied on images of scattered and heaped rice grains of different varieties. It is shown that each variety gives a unique set of results.

  1. Growth of Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin ex. Steudel in mine water treatment wetlands: effects of metal and nutrient uptake.

    PubMed

    Batty, Lesley C; Younger, Paul L

    2004-11-01

    The abandoned mine of Shilbottle Colliery, Northumberland, UK is an example of acidic spoil heap discharge that contains elevated levels of many metals. Aerobic wetlands planted with the common reed, Phragmites australis, were constructed at the site to treat surface runoff from the spoil heap. The presence of a perched water table within the spoil heap resulted in the lower wetlands receiving acidic metal contaminated water from within the spoil heap while the upper wetland receives alkaline, uncontaminated surface runoff from the revegetated spoil. This unique situation enabled the comparison of metal uptake and growth of plants used in treatment schemes in two cognate wetlands. Results indicated a significant difference in plant growth between the two wetlands in terms of shoot height and seed production. Analyses of metal and nutrient concentrations within plant tissues provided the basis for three hypotheses to explain these differences: (i) the toxic effects of high levels of metals in shoot tissues, (ii) the inhibition of Ca (an essential nutrient) uptake by the presence of metals and H+ ions, and (iii) low concentrations of bioavailable nitrogen sources resulting in nitrogen deficiency. This has important implications for the engineering of constructed wetlands in terms of the potential success of plant establishment and vegetation development.

  2. Hard Real-Time: C++ Versus RTSJ

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Dvorak, Daniel L.; Reinholtz, William K.

    2004-01-01

    In the domain of hard real-time systems, which language is better: C++ or the Real-Time Specification for Java (RTSJ)? Although ordinary Java provides a more productive programming environment than C++ due to its automatic memory management, that benefit does not apply to RTSJ when using NoHeapRealtimeThread and non-heap memory areas. As a result, RTSJ programmers must manage non-heap memory explicitly. While that's not a deterrent for veteran real-time programmers-where explicit memory management is common-the lack of certain language features in RTSJ (and Java) makes that manual memory management harder to accomplish safely than in C++. This paper illustrates the problem for practitioners in the context of moving data and managing memory in a real-time producer/consumer pattern. The relative ease of implementation and safety of the C++ programming model suggests that RTSJ has a struggle ahead in the domain of hard real-time applications, despite its other attractive features.

  3. Development of a front end controller/heap manager for PHENIX

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Ericson, M.N.; Allen, M.D.; Musrock, M.S.

    1996-12-31

    A controller/heap manager has been designed for applicability to all detector subsystem types of PHENIX. the heap manager performs all functions associated with front end electronics control including ADC and analog memory control, data collection, command interpretation and execution, and data packet forming and communication. Interfaces to the unit consist of a timing and control bus, a serial bus, a parallel data bus, and a trigger interface. The topology developed is modular so that many functional blocks are identical for a number of subsystem types. Programmability is maximized through the use of flexible modular functions and implementation using field programmablemore » gate arrays (FPGAs). Details of unit design and functionality will be discussed with particular detail given to subsystems having analog memory-based front end electronics. In addition, mode control, serial functions, and FPGA implementation details will be presented.« less

  4. Transient response in granular bounded heap flows

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xiao, Hongyi; Ottino, Julio M.; Lueptow, Richard M.; Umbanhowar, Paul B.

    2017-11-01

    Heap formation, a canonical granular flow, is common in industry and is also found in nature. Here, we study the transition between steady flow states in quasi-2D bounded heaps by suddenly changing the feed rate from one fixed value to another. During the transition, in both experiments and discrete element method simulations, an additional wedge of flowing particles propagates over the rising free surface. The downstream edge of the wedge - the wedge front - moves downstream with velocity inversely proportional to the square root of time. An additional longer duration transient process continues after the wedge front reaches the downstream wall. The transient flux profile during the entire transition is well modeled by a diffusion-like equation derived from local mass balance and a local linear relation between the flux and the surface slope. Scalings for the transient kinematics during the flow transitions are developed based on the flux profiles. Funded by NSF Grant CBET-1511450.

  5. Genetic connectivity between land and sea: the case of the beachflea Orchestia montagui (Crustacea, Amphipoda, Talitridae) in the Mediterranean Sea.

    PubMed

    Pavesi, Laura; Tiedemann, Ralph; De Matthaeis, Elvira; Ketmaier, Valerio

    2013-04-25

    We examined patterns of genetic divergence in 26 Mediterranean populations of the semi-terrestrial beachflea Orchestia montagui using mitochondrial (cytochrome oxidase subunit I), microsatellite (eight loci) and allozymic data. The species typically forms large populations within heaps of dead seagrass leaves stranded on beaches at the waterfront. We adopted a hierarchical geographic sampling to unravel population structure in a species living at the sea-land transition and, hence, likely subjected to dramatically contrasting forces. Mitochondrial DNA showed historical phylogeographic breaks among Adriatic, Ionian and the remaining basins (Tyrrhenian, Western and Eastern Mediterranean Sea) likely caused by the geological and climatic changes of the Pleistocene. Microsatellites (and to a lesser extent allozymes) detected a further subdivision between and within the Western Mediterranean and the Tyrrhenian Sea due to present-day processes. A pattern of isolation by distance was not detected in any of the analyzed data set. We conclude that the population structure of O. montagui is the result of the interplay of two contrasting forces that act on the species population genetic structure. On one hand, the species semi-terrestrial life style would tend to determine the onset of local differences. On the other hand, these differences are partially counter-balanced by passive movements of migrants via rafting on heaps of dead seagrass leaves across sites by sea surface currents. Approximate Bayesian Computations support dispersal at sea as prevalent over terrestrial regionalism.

  6. Genetic connectivity between land and sea: the case of the beachflea Orchestia montagui (Crustacea, Amphipoda, Talitridae) in the Mediterranean Sea

    PubMed Central

    2013-01-01

    Introduction We examined patterns of genetic divergence in 26 Mediterranean populations of the semi-terrestrial beachflea Orchestia montagui using mitochondrial (cytochrome oxidase subunit I), microsatellite (eight loci) and allozymic data. The species typically forms large populations within heaps of dead seagrass leaves stranded on beaches at the waterfront. We adopted a hierarchical geographic sampling to unravel population structure in a species living at the sea-land transition and, hence, likely subjected to dramatically contrasting forces. Results Mitochondrial DNA showed historical phylogeographic breaks among Adriatic, Ionian and the remaining basins (Tyrrhenian, Western and Eastern Mediterranean Sea) likely caused by the geological and climatic changes of the Pleistocene. Microsatellites (and to a lesser extent allozymes) detected a further subdivision between and within the Western Mediterranean and the Tyrrhenian Sea due to present-day processes. A pattern of isolation by distance was not detected in any of the analyzed data set. Conclusions We conclude that the population structure of O. montagui is the result of the interplay of two contrasting forces that act on the species population genetic structure. On one hand, the species semi-terrestrial life style would tend to determine the onset of local differences. On the other hand, these differences are partially counter-balanced by passive movements of migrants via rafting on heaps of dead seagrass leaves across sites by sea surface currents. Approximate Bayesian Computations support dispersal at sea as prevalent over terrestrial regionalism. PMID:23618554

  7. Thread Migration in the Presence of Pointers

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Cronk, David; Haines, Matthew; Mehrotra, Piyush

    1996-01-01

    Dynamic migration of lightweight threads supports both data locality and load balancing. However, migrating threads that contain pointers referencing data in both the stack and heap remains an open problem. In this paper we describe a technique by which threads with pointers referencing both stack and non-shared heap data can be migrated such that the pointers remain valid after migration. As a result, threads containing pointers can now be migrated between processors in a homogeneous distributed memory environment.

  8. Development of Soil Characteristics and Plant Communities On Reclaimed and Unreclaimed Spoil Heaps After Coal Mining

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cudlín, Ondřej; Řehák, Zdeněk; Cudlín, Pavel

    2016-10-01

    The aim of this study was to compare soil characteristics, plant communities and the rate of selected ecosystem function performance on reclaimed and unreclaimed plots (left for spontaneous succession) of different age on spoil heaps. Twelve spoil heaps (three circle plots of radius 12.5 m) near the town Kladno in north-west direction from Prague, created after deep coal mining, were compared. Five mixed soil samples from organo-mineral horizons in each plot were analysed for total content of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus. In addition, active soil pH (pHH2O) was determined. Plant diversity was determined by vegetation releves. The biodiversity value of the habitat according to the Habitat Valuation Method was assessed and the rate of evapotranspiration function by the Method of Valuation Functions and Services of Ecosystems in the Czech Republic were determined. The higher organo-mineral layers and higher amount of total nitrogen content were found on the older reclaimed and unreclaimed plots than in younger plots. The number of plant species and the total contents of carbon and nitrogen were significantly higher at the unreclaimed plots compared to reclaimed plots. The biodiversity values and evapotranspiration function rate were also higher on unreclaimed plots. From this perspective, it is possible to recommend using of spontaneous succession, together with routine reclamation methods to restore habitats after coal mining. Despite the relatively high age of vegetation in some of selected plots (90 years), both the reclaimed and unreclaimed plots have not reached the stage of potential vegetation near to natural climax. Slow development of vegetation was probably due to unsuitable substrate of spoil heaps and a lack of plant and tree species of natural forest habitats in this area. However, it is probable that vegetation communities on observed spoil heaps in both type of management (reclaimed and unreclaimed) will achieve the stage of natural climax and they will provide ecosystem functions more effectively in the future.

  9. Recycling of indium from waste LCD: A promising non-crushing leaching with the aid of ultrasonic wave.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Kaihua; Li, Bin; Wu, Yufeng; Wang, Wei; Li, Rubing; Zhang, Yi-Nan; Zuo, Tieyong

    2017-06-01

    The tremendous amount of end-of-life liquid crystal displays (LCDs) has become one of the prominent sources of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) in recent years. Despite the necessity of safe treatment, recycling indium is also a focus of waste LCD treatment because of the scarcity of indium. Based on the analyses of the structure of Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) glass, crushing is demonstrated to be not required. In the present research, a complete non-crushing leaching method was firstly adopted to recycle indium from waste LCDs, and the ultrasonic waves was applied in the leaching process. The results demonstrated that indium can be leached efficiently with even a low concentration of chloride acid (HCl) without extra heating. About 96.80% can be recovered in 60mins, when the ITO glass was leached by 0.8MHCl with an enhancement of 300W ultrasonic waves. The indium leaching process is abridged free from crushing, and proves to be of higher efficiency. In addition, the ultrasonic wave influence on leaching process was also explained combing with micron-scale structure of ITO glass. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. No Bit Left Behind: The Limits of Heap Data Compression

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2008-06-01

    Lempel - Ziv compression is non-lossy, in other words, the original data can be fully recovered by decompression. Unlike the data representations for most...of the other models, Lempel - Ziv compressed data does not permit random access, let alone in-place update. To compute this model as accu- rately as...of the collection, we print the size of the full stream, i.e., all live data in the heap. We then apply Lempel - Ziv compression to the stream

  11. Deviation of Zipf's and Heaps' Laws in Human Languages with Limited Dictionary Sizes

    PubMed Central

    Lü, Linyuan; Zhang, Zi-Ke; Zhou, Tao

    2013-01-01

    Zipf's law on word frequency and Heaps' law on the growth of distinct words are observed in Indo-European language family, but it does not hold for languages like Chinese, Japanese and Korean. These languages consist of characters, and are of very limited dictionary sizes. Extensive experiments show that: (i) The character frequency distribution follows a power law with exponent close to one, at which the corresponding Zipf's exponent diverges. Indeed, the character frequency decays exponentially in the Zipf's plot. (ii) The number of distinct characters grows with the text length in three stages: It grows linearly in the beginning, then turns to a logarithmical form, and eventually saturates. A theoretical model for writing process is proposed, which embodies the rich-get-richer mechanism and the effects of limited dictionary size. Experiments, simulations and analytical solutions agree well with each other. This work refines the understanding about Zipf's and Heaps' laws in human language systems. PMID:23378896

  12. Photochemical changes in cyanide speciation in drainage from a precious metal ore heap

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Johnson, C.A.; Leinz, R.W.; Grimes, D.J.; Rye, R.O.

    2002-01-01

    In drainage from an inactive ore heap at a former gold mine, the speciation of cyanide and the concentrations of several metals were found to follow diurnal cycles. Concentrations of the hexacyanoferrate complex, iron, manganese, and ammonium were higher at night than during the day, whereas weak-acid-dissociable cyanide, silver, gold, copper, nitrite, and pH displayed the reverse behavior. The changes in cyanide speciation, iron, and trace metals can be explained by photodissociation of iron and cobalt cyanocomplexes as the solutions emerged from the heap into sunlight-exposed channels. At midday, environmentally significant concentrations of free cyanide were produced in a matter of minutes, causing trace copper, silver, and gold to be mobilized as cyanocomplexes from solids. Whether rapid photodissociation is a general phenomenon common to other sites will be important to determine in reaching a general understanding of the environmental risks posed by routine or accidental water discharges from precious metal mining facilities.

  13. Observing phthalate leaching from plasticized polymer films at the molecular level.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Xiaoxian; Chen, Zhan

    2014-05-06

    Phthalates, the most widely used plasticizers in poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC), have been extensively studied. In this paper, a highly sensitive, easy, and effective method was developed to examine short-term phthalate leaching from PVC/phthalate films at the molecular level using sum frequency generation vibrational spectroscopy (SFG). Combining SFG and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), surface and bulk molecular structures of PVC/phthalate films were also comprehensively evaluated during the phthalate leaching process under various environments. The leaching processes of two phthalates, diethyl phthalate (DEP) and dibutyl phthalate (DBP), from the PVC/phthalate films with various weight ratios were studied. Oxygen plasma was applied to treat the PVC/phthalate film surfaces to verify its efficacy on preventing/reducing phthalate leaching from PVC. Our results show that DBP is more stable than DEP in PVC/phthalate films. Even so, DBP molecules were still found to very slowly leach to the environment from PVC at 30 °C, at a rate much slower than DEP. Also, the bulk DBP content substantially influences the DBP leaching. Higher DBP bulk concentration yields less stable DBP molecules in the PVC matrix, allowing molecules to leach from the polymer film more easily. Additionally, DBP leaching is very sensitive to temperature changes; higher temperature can strongly enhance the leaching process. For most cases, the oxygen plasma treatment can effectively prevent phthalate leaching from PVC films (e.g., for samples with low bulk concentrations of DBP-5 and 30 wt %). It is also capable of reducing phthalate leaching from high DBP bulk concentration PVC samples (e.g., 70 wt % DBP in PVC/DBP mixture). This research develops a highly sensitive method to detect chemicals at the molecular level as well as provides surface and bulk molecular structural changes. The method developed here is general and can be applied to detect small amounts of chemical/biological environmental contaminants.

  14. Arsenic Speciation of Solvent-Extracted Leachate from New and Weathered CCA-Treated Wood

    PubMed Central

    KHAN, BERNINE I.; SOLO - GABRIELE, HELENA M.; DUBEY, BRAJESH K.; TOWNSEND, TIMOTHY G.; CAI, YONG

    2009-01-01

    For the past 60 yr, chromate-copper-arsenate (CCA) has been used to pressure-treat millions of cubic meters of wood in the United States for the construction of many outdoor structures. Leaching of arsenic from these structures is a possible health concern as there exists the potential for soil and groundwater contamination. While previous studies have focused on total arsenic concentrations leaching from CCA-treated wood, information pertaining to the speciation of arsenic leached is limited. Since arsenic toxicity is dependent upon speciation, the objective of this study was to identify and quantify arsenic species leaching from new and weathered CCA-treated wood and CCA-treated wood ash. Solvent-extraction experiments were carried out by subjecting the treated wood and the ash to solvents of varying pH values, solvents defined in the EPA’s Synthetic Precipitation Leaching Procedure (SPLP) and Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP), rainwater, deionized water, and seawater. The generated leachates were analyzed for inorganic As(III) and As(V) and the organoarsenic species, monomethylarsonic acid (MMAA) and dimethylarsinic acid (DMAA), using high-performance liquid chromatography followed by hydride generation and atomic fluorescence spectrometry (HPLC–HG-AFS). Only the inorganic species were detected in any of the wood leachates; no organoarsenic species were found. Inorganic As(V) was the major detectable species leaching from both new and weathered wood. The weathered wood leached relatively more overall arsenic and was attributed to increased inorganic As(III) leaching. The greater presence of As(III) in the weathered wood samples as compared to the new wood samples may be due to natural chemical and biological transformations during the weathering process. CCA-treated wood ash leached more arsenic than unburned wood using the SPLP and TCLP, and ash samples leached more inorganic As(III) than the unburned counterparts. Increased leaching was due to higher concentrations of arsenic within the ash and to the conversion of some As(V) to As(III) during combustion. PMID:15461159

  15. Onion and garlic dehydration in the San Emidio Desert, Nevada

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Lund, J.W.; Lienau, P.J.

    1994-07-01

    Integrated Ingredients dedicated their new onion and garlic processing plant on May 25th. {open_quotes}Grunion{close_quotes} as the new community of 72 employees has been labeled, is located just south of Empire and Gerlach and about 100 miles north of Reno, Nevada. The plant, run by Integrated Ingredients (based in Alameda, CA), is a division of Burns Philp Food, Inc., which owns brands such as Spice Islands, Durkee-French and Fleischmann`s. This plant gives the company the ability to produce its own products for industrial and consumer markets instead of purchasing them. The plant was located in the San Emidio Desert at themore » edge of the vast Black Rock Desert and the Great Basin to take advantage of the high temperature geothermal resource (approximately 270{degrees}F). The resource is also used by the OESI/AMOR II 3.6 MW binary plant about a mile south of the dehydration plant and a gold heap leaching operation just to the north of the plant (Wind Mt. mine operated by AMAX). In addition to the geothermal energy, the high desert is an ideal location for onion and garlic processing because the cold winters kill damaging microbes. Dry winters and summers also help.« less

  16. An Evaluation of Concurrent Priority Queue Algorithms

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1991-02-01

    node is the corresponding index in the array. and node i occupies location i. The left child of node i. LCHILD(i). occupies location 2z and its right... child , RCHILD(i), occupies location 2i + 1. The parent of node i is at I- Associated with the heap are data fields lastelern and fulllevel, in which...then 14 p = rchild(p) 15 1 = -j 16 else 17 p ! child (p) 18 end 19 j/2 20 end 21 key[p] = nkey 22 end insert Figure 2.2: Insert operation on binary heap

  17. Leaching of Titanium and Silicon from Low-Grade Titanium Slag Using Hydrochloric Acid Leaching

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhao, Longsheng; Wang, Lina; Qi, Tao; Chen, Desheng; Zhao, Hongxin; Liu, Yahui; Wang, Weijing

    2018-05-01

    Acid-leaching behaviors of the titanium slag obtained by selective reduction of vanadium-bearing titanomagnetite concentrates were investigated. It was found that the optimal leaching of titanium and silicon were 0.7% and 1.5%, respectively. The titanium and silicon in the titanium slag were firstly dissolved in the acidic solution to form TiO2+ and silica sol, and then rapidly reprecipitated, forming hydrochloric acid (HCl) leach residue. Most of the silicon presented in the HCl leach residue as floccules-like silica gel, while most of the titanium was distributed in the nano-sized rod-like clusters with crystallite refinement and intracrystalline defects, and, as such, 94.3% of the silicon was leached from the HCl leach residue by alkaline desilication, and 96.5% of the titanium in the titanium-rich material with some rutile structure was then digested by the concentrated sulfuric acid. This provides an alternative route for the comprehensive utilization of titanium and silicon in titanium slag.

  18. Copper and cadmium in bottom sediments dredged from Wyścigi Pond, Warsaw, Poland--contamination and bioaccumulation study.

    PubMed

    Wojtkowska, Małgorzata; Karwowska, Ewa; Chmielewska, Iwona; Bekenova, Kundyz; Wanot, Ewa

    2015-12-01

    This research covered an evaluation of the copper and cadmium concentrations in bottom sediments dredged from one of the ponds in Warsaw. The samples of sediments, soil, and plants were analyzed in terms of Cu and Cd content. The research concerned the heap of dredged bottom sediments from Wyścigi Pond, Warsaw, Poland. Two boreholes were made to obtain sediment cores with depths of A 162.5 cm and B 190.0 cm. The cores were divided into 10 sub-samples with a thickness of about 15-20 cm. A control sample of soil was taken from the horse racecourse several hundred meters away from the heap. The vegetation was sampled directly from the heap. The predominating plants were tested: Urtica dioica, Glechoma hederacea, Euonymus verrucosus, and Drepanocladus aduncus. A control sample of U. dioica taken outside of the heap was also tested. The commercial PHYTOTOXKIT microbiotest was applied to evaluate the influence of heavy metal-contaminated sediments (used as soil) on germination and growth of the chosen test plants. The analyses of cadmium and copper concentrations revealed that the metal concentration in sediments was diverse at different depths of sampling, probably reflecting their concentration in stored layers of sediments. Moreover, the metal content in core A was four to five times lower than that in core B, which reveals heterogeneity of the sediments in the tested heap. In core A, the copper concentration ranged from 4.7 to 13.4 mg/kg d.w. (average 8.06 ± 0.71 mg/kg d.w.), while in core B, it ranged from 9.2 to 82.1 mg/kg d.w. (average 38.56 ± 2.6 mg/kg d.w.). One of the results of the heavy metal presence in soils is their bioaccumulation in plants. Comparing plant growth, more intensive growth of roots was observed in the case of plants growing on the control (reference) soil than those growing on sediments. The intensive development of both primary and lateral roots was noticed. During this early growth, metal accumulation in plants occurred.

  19. Experimental Investigation on Pore Structure Characterization of Concrete Exposed to Water and Chlorides

    PubMed Central

    Liu, Jun; Tang, Kaifeng; Qiu, Qiwen; Pan, Dong; Lei, Zongru; Xing, Feng

    2014-01-01

    In this paper, the pore structure characterization of concrete exposed to deionised water and 5% NaCl solution was evaluated using mercury intrusion porosity (MIP), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The effects of calcium leaching, fly ash incorporation, and chloride ions on the evolution of pore structure characteristics were investigated. The results demonstrate that: (i) in ordinary concrete without any fly ash, the leaching effect of the cement products is more evident than the cement hydration effect. From the experimental data, Ca(OH)2 is leached considerably with the increase in immersion time. The pore structure of concrete can also be affected by the formation of an oriented structure of water in concrete materials; (ii) incorporation of fly ash makes a difference for the performance of concrete submersed in solutions as the total porosity and the pore connectivity can be lower. Especially when the dosage of fly ash is up to 30%, the pores with the diameter of larger than 100 nm show significant decrease. It demonstrates that the pore properties are improved by fly ash, which enhances the resistance against the calcium leaching; (iii) chlorides have a significant impact on microstructure of concrete materials because of the chemical interactions between the chlorides and cement hydrates. PMID:28788204

  20. Design of Perovskite Oxides as Anion-Intercalation-Type Electrodes for Supercapacitors: Cation Leaching Effect.

    PubMed

    Liu, Yu; Dinh, Jim; Tade, Moses O; Shao, Zongping

    2016-09-14

    Oxygen ions can be exploited as a charge carrier to effectively realize a new type of anion-intercalation supercapacitor. In this study, to get some useful guidelines for future materials development, we comparatively studied SrCoO3-δ (SC), Ba0.5Sr0.5Co0.8Fe0.2O3-δ (BSCF), and Co3O4 as electrodes in supercapacitors with aqueous alkaline electrolyte. The effect of interaction between the electrode materials with the alkaline solution was focused on the structure and specific surface area of the electrode material, and ultimately the electrochemical performance was emphasized. Both BSCF and SC were found to experience cation leaching in alkaline solution, resulting in an increase in the specific surface area of the material, but overleaching caused the damage of perovskite structure of BSCF. Barium leaching was more serious than strontium, and the cation leaching was component dependent. Although high initial capacitance was achieved for BSCF, it was not a good candidate as intercalation-type electrode for supercapacitor because of poor cycling stability from serious Ba(2+) and Sr(2+) leaching. Instead, SC was a favorable electrode candidate for practical use in supercapacitors due to its high capacity and proper cation leaching capacity, which brought beneficial effect on cycling stability. It is suggested that cation leaching effect should be seriously considered in the development of new perovskite materials as electrodes for supercapacitors.

  1. Unexpected heaping in reported gestational age for women undergoing medical abortion.

    PubMed

    Sivin, Irving; Trussell, James; Lichtenberg, E Steve; Fjerstad, Mary; Cleland, Kelly; Cullins, Vanessa

    2009-09-01

    In August 2006, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (Planned Parenthood) conducted an extensive audit of first-trimester medical abortions with oral mifepristone plus buccal misoprostol through 56 days of gestation so that patients could be given accurate information about the success rate of the new regimen. We sought to evaluate the effectiveness of this buccal misoprostol regimen and to examine correlates of its success during routine service delivery. Audits in 10 large urban service points were conducted in 2006 to estimate the success rates of the buccal regimen. Success was defined as medical abortion without vacuum aspiration. We discovered unexpected heaping of reported gestational age (GA) on days divisible by 7. Such heaping, which has not been reported in the literature, would make it more difficult to detect a modest trend in declining effectiveness with increasing GA, if there were one. High coefficients of variation of sac size and crown-rump length characterize the early gestational weeks. We suspect, but are unable to prove, that the source of the heaping found in our investigation is a tendency for operators of ultrasound machines at some sites to simplify reporting by rounding a portion of the results to a date corresponding to the nearest complete gestational week. We believe that immediate supervisory awareness and feedback may reduce the extent of the problem. However, the problem may persist in multiple-site studies given the underlying variability of ultrasound measurements with differently calibrated machines and different rules for recording data, some of which may permit acceptance of an estimate based on the stated date of the last menses, if it differs by no more than 2 or 3 days from the ultrasound result.

  2. Thermal treatment and ammoniacal leaching for the recovery of valuable metals from spent lithium-ion batteries.

    PubMed

    Chen, Yongming; Liu, Nannan; Hu, Fang; Ye, Longgang; Xi, Yan; Yang, Shenghai

    2018-05-01

    The recycling of spent commercial lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) generates numerous environmental and economic benefits. In this research, a thermal treatment-ammoniacal leaching process is proposed to recover valuable metals from cathode active powder. Based on the thermal behavior by TG-DSC analysis, the cathode active powder is calcined at 300 °C and 550 °C in air atmosphere, and the crystalline phase characterization indicates that a new phase of Co 3 O 4 appears in the cathode active powder calcined at 550 °C, which signifies that the layer structure of LiCoO 2 collapses. The valence of manganese increases to form Li 4 Mn 5 O 12 in spinel structure of LiMn 2 O 4 . Using calcined cathode powder as feed material, ammoniacal leaching is carried out in (NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 -(NH 4 ) 2 SO 3 solution. Under the optimum conditions, Ni, Co, Mn and Li can be completely leached out with efficiencies of 98%, 81%, 92% and 98%, respectively. However, with the increase of ammonia concentration, the leaching efficiency of Mn decreases dramatically to 4% due to the formation of double salts. It is found that Co and Mn can be precipitated into residues in the form of (NH 4 ) 2 Co(SO 4 ) 2 ·H 2 O, (NH 4 ) 2 Mn(SO 3 ) 2 ·H 2 O and (NH 4 ) 2 Mn(SO 4 ) 2 ·6H 2 O under different leaching parameters. Based on the corresponding relationship between the leaching efficiency and phase evolution of object element, selective leaching can be achieved by controlling the formation of double salts. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. Nickel-cadmium batteries: effect of electrode phase composition on acid leaching process.

    PubMed

    Nogueira, C A; Margarido, F

    2012-01-01

    At the end of their life, Ni-Cd batteries cause a number of environmental problems because of the heavy metals they contain. Because of this, recycling of Ni-Cd batteries has been carried out by dedicated companies using, normally, pyrometallurgical technologies. As an alternative, hydrometallurgical processes have been developed based on leaching operations using several types of leachants. The effect of factors like temperature, acid concentration, reaction time, stirring speed and grinding of material on the leaching yields of metals contained in anodic and cathodic materials (nickel, cadmium and cobalt) using sulphuric acid, is herein explained based on the structural composition of the electrode materials. The nickel, cobalt and cadmium hydroxide phases, even with a small reaction time (less than 15 minutes) and low temperature (50 degrees C) and acid concentration (1.1 M H2SO4), were efficiently leached. However, leaching of the nickel metallic phase was more difficult, requiring higher values of temperature, acid concentration and reaction time (e.g. 85 degrees C, 1.1 M H2SO4 and 5 h, respectively) in order to obtain a good leaching efficiency for anodic and cathodic materials (70% and 93% respectively). The stirring speed was not significant, whereas the grinding of electrode materials seems to promote the compaction of particles, which appears to be critical in the leaching of Ni degrees. These results allowed the identification and understanding of the relationship between the structural composition of electrode materials and the most important factors that affect the H2SO4 leaching of spent Ni-Cd battery electrodes, in order to obtain better metal-recovery efficiency.

  4. Composition and structure of acid leached LiMn 2-yTi yO 4 (0.2≤ y≤1.5) spinels

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Avdeev, Georgi; Amarilla, José Manuel; Rojo, José María; Petrov, Kostadin; Rojas, Rosa María

    2009-12-01

    Lithium manganese titanium spinels, LiMn 2-yTi yO 4, (0.2≤ y≤1.5) have been synthesized by solid-state reaction between TiO 2 (anatase), Li 2CO 3 and MnCO 3. Li + was leached from the powdered reaction products by treatment in excess of 0.2 N HCl at 85 °C for 6 h, under reflux. The elemental composition of the acidic solution and solid residues of leaching has been determined by complexometric titration, atomic absorption spectroscopy and X-ray fluorescence analysis. Powder X-ray diffraction was used for structural characterization of the crystalline fraction of the solid residues. It has been found that the amount of Li + leached from LiMn 2-yTi yO 4 decreases monotonically with increasing y in the interval 0.2≤ y≤1.0 and abruptly drops to negligibly small values for y>1.0. The content of Mn and Li in the liquid phase and of Mn and Ti in the solid (amorphous plus crystalline) residue, were related to the composition and cation distribution in the pristine compounds. A new formal chemical equation describing the process of leaching and a mechanism of the structural transformation undergone by the initial solids as a result of Li + removal has been proposed.

  5. Log-Log Convexity of Type-Token Growth in Zipf's Systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Font-Clos, Francesc; Corral, Álvaro

    2015-06-01

    It is traditionally assumed that Zipf's law implies the power-law growth of the number of different elements with the total number of elements in a system—the so-called Heaps' law. We show that a careful definition of Zipf's law leads to the violation of Heaps' law in random systems, with growth curves that have a convex shape in log-log scale. These curves fulfill universal data collapse that only depends on the value of Zipf's exponent. We observe that real books behave very much in the same way as random systems, despite the presence of burstiness in word occurrence. We advance an explanation for this unexpected correspondence.

  6. Transient response in granular quasi-two-dimensional bounded heap flow.

    PubMed

    Xiao, Hongyi; Ottino, Julio M; Lueptow, Richard M; Umbanhowar, Paul B

    2017-10-01

    We study the transition between steady flows of noncohesive granular materials in quasi-two-dimensional bounded heaps by suddenly changing the feed rate. In both experiments and simulations, the primary feature of the transition is a wedge of flowing particles that propagates downstream over the rising free surface with a wedge front velocity inversely proportional to the square root of time. An additional longer duration transient process continues after the wedge front reaches the downstream wall. The entire transition is well modeled as a moving boundary problem with a diffusionlike equation derived from local mass balance and a local relation between the flux and the surface slope.

  7. Interaction of plant and earthworm during primary succession in heaps after coal

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Roubíčková, Alena; Frouz, Jan

    2015-04-01

    These results of field manipulation experiment show that earthworms can remarkably influence vegetation succession on spoil heaps, namely promoting grasses and late succession species. This is in agreement with concurrent appearance of earthworms and some plant species typical for late-succession communities of meadows and forests aren't purely coincidental. On the other hand, facilitation of soil conditions by plant communities during succession is an important factor in earthworm distribution on the spoil heaps; earthworms showed a low survival on sites with sparse vegetation cover and thin litter layer, which means that their occurrence in certain stages of succession isn't determined only by migration abilities or passive dispersal. More field experiments are needed to test if earthworms could be used in directed succession management practices to speed up the natural rate of succession. Preliminary results from an experiment with introduction earthworms to a 20- year old, earthworm-free site indicate that colonization of this site from a single deposition of about 100 specimen of epigeic and 100 endogeic earthworms is slow and not very efficient. Results show that interaction between earthworm and vegetation are important in ecosystem development in post mining sites.

  8. The containment of toxic wastes: I. Long term metal movement in soils over a covered metalliferous waste heap at Parc lead-zinc mine, North Wales.

    PubMed

    Shu, J; Bradshaw, A D

    1995-01-01

    In order to stabilise and contain a toxic metalliferous waste heap at Parc Mine, North Wales, it was covered with 30-40 cm layer of quarry waste in 1977-1978, and sown with a grass/clover seed mixture. This study has examined subsequent metal movement in the cover material and its effect on vegetation. The results, especially when compared with previous observations, give no evidence of upward migration of metals by capillarity in the cover material. Sideways movement of leachate, however, appears to be carrying the metals into the cover material on the sloping sides, giving rise to increasing concentrations of heavy metals in the vegetation and dieback in some places. Root growth on the flat top of the heap is greater than on the slope, but the roots have not penetrated the waste and the contents of Pb, Zn and Cd in surface vegetation remain low. Surface covering of toxic waste with coarse materials restricting capillary rise is therefore a valid reclamation technique so long as lateral movement of toxic leachate can be controlled.

  9. The combined effects of urea application and simulated acid rain on soil acidification and microbial community structure.

    PubMed

    Liu, Xingmei; Zhou, Jian; Li, Wanlu; Xu, Jianming; Brookes, Philip C

    2014-05-01

    Our aim was to test the effects of simulated acid rain (SAR) at different pHs, when applied to fertilized and unfertilized soils, on the leaching of soil cations (K, Ca, Mg, Na) and Al. Their effects on soil pH, exchangeable H(+) and Al(3+) and microbial community structure were also determined. A Paleudalfs soil was incubated for 30 days, with and without an initial application of urea (200 mg N kg(-1)soil) as nitrogen (N) fertilizer. The soil was held in columns and leached with SAR at three pH levels. Six treatments were tested: SAR of pH 2.5, 4.0 and 5.6 leaching on unfertilized soil (T1, T2 and T3), and on soils fertilized with urea (T4, T5 and T6). Increasing acid inputs proportionally increased cation leaching in both unfertilized and fertilized soils. Urea application increased the initial Ca and Mg leaching, but had no effect on the total concentrations of Ca, Mg and K leached. There was no significant difference for the amount of Na leached between the different treatments. The SAR pH and urea application had significant effects on soil pH, exchangeable H(+) and Al(3+). Urea application, SAR treated with various pH, and the interactions between them all had significant impacts on total phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs). The highest concentration of total PLFAs occurred in fertilized soils with SAR pH5.6 and the lowest in soils leached with the lowest SAR pH. Soils pretreated with urea then leached with SARs of pH 4.0 and 5.6 had larger total PLFA concentrations than soil without urea. Bacterial, fungal, actinomycete, Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacterial PLFAs had generally similar trends to total PLFAs.

  10. Hydrogeochemistry and microbiology of mine drainage: An update

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Nordstrom, D. Kirk; Blowes, D.W; Ptacek, C.J.

    2015-01-01

    The extraction of mineral resources requires access through underground workings, or open pit operations, or through drillholes for solution mining. Additionally, mineral processing can generate large quantities of waste, including mill tailings, waste rock and refinery wastes, heap leach pads, and slag. Thus, through mining and mineral processing activities, large surface areas of sulfide minerals can be exposed to oxygen, water, and microbes, resulting in accelerated oxidation of sulfide and other minerals and the potential for the generation of low-quality drainage. The oxidation of sulfide minerals in mine wastes is accelerated by microbial catalysis of the oxidation of aqueous ferrous iron and sulfide. These reactions, particularly when combined with evaporation, can lead to extremely acidic drainage and very high concentrations of dissolved constituents. Although acid mine drainage is the most prevalent and damaging environmental concern associated with mining activities, generation of saline, basic and neutral drainage containing elevated concentrations of dissolved metals, non-metals, and metalloids has recently been recognized as a potential environmental concern. Acid neutralization reactions through the dissolution of carbonate, hydroxide, and silicate minerals and formation of secondary aluminum and ferric hydroxide phases can moderate the effects of acid generation and enhance the formation of secondary hydrated iron and aluminum minerals which may lessen the concentration of dissolved metals. Numerical models provide powerful tools for assessing impacts of these reactions on water quality.

  11. Summary of the engineering assessment of inactive uranium mill tailings, Durango Site, Durango, Colorado

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Not Available

    1981-06-01

    Ford, Bacon and Davis Utah Inc. has reevaluated the Durango site in order to revise the November 1977 engineering assessment of the problems resulting from the existence of radioactive uranium mill tailings at Durango, Colorado. This engineering assessment has included the preparation of topographic measurements sufficient to determine areas and volumes of tailings and radiation exposures of individuals and nearby populations, the investigations of site hydrology and meteorology, and the evaluation and costing of alternative corrective actions. Radon gas released from the nearly 1.6 million tons of tailings at the Durango site constitutes the most significant environmental impact, although windblownmore » tailings and external gamma radiation also are factors. The four alternative actions presented in this engineering assessment range from millsite and off-site decontamination with the addition of 3 m of stabilization cover material (Option I), to removal of the tailings to remote disposal sites and decontamination of the tailings site (Options II through IV). Cost estimates for the seven options range from about $10,700,000 for stabilization in-place, to about $21,800,000 for disposal at a distance of about 10 mi. Three principal alternatives for the reprocessing of the Durango tailings were examined: (a) heap leaching; (b) treatment at an existing mill; and (c) reprocessing at a new conventional mill constructed for tailings reprocessing.« less

  12. Potential for cobalt recovery from lateritic ores in Europe

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Herrington, R.

    2012-04-01

    Cobalt is one of the 'critical metals' identified under the EU Raw Materials Initiative. Annually the global mine production of cobalt is around 55,000 tonnes,with Europe's industries consuming around 30% of that figure. Currently Europe produces around 27 tonnes of cobalt from mines in Finland although new capacity is planned. Co-bearing nickel laterite ores being mined in Greece, Macedonia and Kosovo where the cobalt is currently not being recovered (ores have typical analyses of 0.055% Co and >1% Ni,). These ores are currently treated directly in pyrometallurgical plants to recover the contained nickel and this process means there is no separate cobalt product produced. Hydrometallurgical treatment of mineralogically suitable laterite ores can recover the cobalt; for example Cuba recovers 3,500 tonnes of cobalt from its laterite mining operations, which are of a similar scale to the current European operations. Implementation of hydrometallurgical techniques is in its infancy in Europe with one deposit in Turkey planning to use atmospheric heap leaching to recover nickel and copper from oxide-dominated ores. More widespread implementation of these methods to mineralogically suitable ore types could unlock the highly significant undeveloped resources (with metal contents >0.04% Co and >1% Ni), which have been defined throughout the Balkans eastwards into Turkey. At a conservative estimate, this region has the potential to supply up to 30% of the EU cobalt requirements.

  13. Earth Observations by the Expedition 19 crew

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2009-05-05

    ISS019-E-014473 (5 May 2009) --- Salt ponds in Nueva Victoria, northern Chile are featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 19 crew member on the International Space Station. This view shows a long alluvial fan, sloping from east to west (left to right) in northern Chile with solar evaporation (or salt) ponds, some brightly colored, near the foot of the fan. The alluvial fan sediments are brown and contrast sharply with tan sediments of the Pampa del Tamarugal, the great hyper arid inner valley of Chile?s northern Atacama Desert. Nitrates and many other minerals are mined in this region. A few extraction pits and ore dumps are visible at bottom right, but most of the shallow diggings (0.5?5 meters deep) of a mine extracting caliche deposits ? a hard, cemented layer in the soil formed by downward movement and redeposition of sodium salts ? lie just outside the picture. Iodine is one of the products from mining; it is first extracted by a process known as heap leaching. Waste liquids from the iodine plants are dried in the tan and brightly colored evaporation ponds to crystallize nitrate salts for collection. Fertilizer production for higher-value crops is the main use for the recovered nitrates, but there are many other uses including the manufacture of pharmaceuticals, explosives, glass, ceramics, water treatment and metallurgical processes.

  14. Effects of Leaching Behavior of Calcium Ions on Compression and Durability of Cement-Based Materials with Mineral Admixtures

    PubMed Central

    Cheng, An; Chao, Sao-Jeng; Lin, Wei-Ting

    2013-01-01

    Leaching of calcium ions increases the porosity of cement-based materials, consequently resulting in a negative effect on durability since it provides an entry for aggressive harmful ions, causing reinforcing steel corrosion. This study investigates the effects of leaching behavior of calcium ions on the compression and durability of cement-based materials. Since the parameters influencing the leaching behavior of cement-based materials are unclear and diverse, this paper focuses on the influence of added mineral admixtures (fly ash, slag and silica fume) on the leaching behavior of calcium ions regarding compression and durability of cemented-based materials. Ammonium nitrate solution was used to accelerate the leaching process in this study. Scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction analysis, and thermogravimetric analysis were employed to analyze and compare the cement-based material compositions prior to and after calcium ion leaching. The experimental results show that the mineral admixtures reduce calcium hydroxide quantity and refine pore structure through pozzolanic reaction, thus enhancing the compressive strength and durability of cement-based materials. PMID:28809247

  15. Study on the leaching behavior of actinides from nuclear fuel debris

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kirishima, Akira; Hirano, Masahiko; Akiyama, Daisuke; Sasaki, Takayuki; Sato, Nobuaki

    2018-04-01

    For the prediction of the leaching behavior of actinides contained in the nuclear fuel debris generated by the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident in Japan, simulated fuel debris consisting of a UO2-ZrO2 solid solution doped with 137Cs, 237Np, 236Pu, and 241Am tracers was synthesized and investigated. The synthesis of the debris was carried out by heat treatment at 1200 °C at different oxygen partial pressures, and the samples were subsequently used for leaching tests with Milli-Q water and seawater. The results of the leaching tests indicate that the leaching of actinides depends on the redox conditions under which the debris was generated; for example, debris generated under oxidative conditions releases more actinide nuclides to water than that generated under reductive conditions. Furthermore, we found that, as Zr(IV) increasingly substituted U(IV) in the fluorite crystal structure of the debris, the actinide leaching from the debris decreased. In addition, we found that seawater leached more actinides from the debris than pure water, which seems to be caused by the complexation of actinides by carbonate ions in seawater.

  16. Leaching lithium from the anode electrode materials of spent lithium-ion batteries by hydrochloric acid (HCl).

    PubMed

    Guo, Yang; Li, Feng; Zhu, Haochen; Li, Guangming; Huang, Juwen; He, Wenzhi

    2016-05-01

    Spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are considered as an important secondary resource for its high contents of valuable components, such as lithium and cobalt. Currently, studies mainly focus on the recycling of cathode electrodes. There are few studies concentrating on the recovery of anode electrodes. In this work, based on the analysis result of high amount of lithium contained in the anode electrode, the acid leaching process was applied to recycle lithium from anode electrodes of spent LIBs. Hydrochloric acid was introduced as leaching reagent, and hydrogen peroxide as reducing agent. Within the range of experiment performed, hydrogen peroxide was found to have little effect on lithium leaching process. The highest leaching recovery of 99.4wt% Li was obtained at leaching temperature of 80°C, 3M hydrochloric acid and S/L ratio of 1:50g/ml for 90min. The graphite configuration with a better crystal structure obtained after the leaching process can also be recycled. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Solidified structure and leaching properties of metallurgical wastewater treatment sludge after solidification/stabilization process.

    PubMed

    Radovanović, Dragana Đ; Kamberović, Željko J; Korać, Marija S; Rogan, Jelena R

    2016-01-01

    The presented study investigates solidification/stabilization process of hazardous heavy metals/arsenic sludge, generated after the treatment of the wastewater from a primary copper smelter. Fly ash and fly ash with addition of hydrated lime and Portland composite cement were studied as potential binders. The effectiveness of the process was evaluated by unconfined compressive strength (UCS) testing, leaching tests (EN 12457-4 and TCLP) and acid neutralization capacity (ANC) test. It was found that introduction of cement into the systems increased the UCS, led to reduced leaching of Cu, Ni and Zn, but had a negative effect on the ANC. Gradual addition of lime resulted in decreased UCS, significant reduction of metals leaching and high ANC, due to the excess of lime that remained unreacted in pozzolanic reaction. Stabilization of more than 99% of heavy metals and 90% of arsenic has been achieved. All the samples had UCS above required value for safe disposal. In addition to standard leaching tests, solidificates were exposed to atmospheric conditions during one year in order to determine the actual leaching level of metals in real environment. It can be concluded that the EN 12457-4 test is more similar to the real environmental conditions, while the TCLP test highly exaggerates the leaching of metals. The paper also presents results of differential acid neutralization (d-AN) analysis compared with mineralogical study done by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis. The d-AN coupled with Eh-pH (Pourbaix) diagrams were proven to be a new effective method for analysis of amorphous solidified structure.

  18. Certification trails for data structures

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Sullivan, Gregory F.; Masson, Gerald M.

    1993-01-01

    Certification trails are a recently introduced and promising approach to fault detection and fault tolerance. The applicability of the certification trail technique is significantly generalized. Previously, certification trails had to be customized to each algorithm application; trails appropriate to wide classes of algorithms were developed. These certification trails are based on common data-structure operations such as those carried out using these sets of operations such as those carried out using balanced binary trees and heaps. Any algorithms using these sets of operations can therefore employ the certification trail method to achieve software fault tolerance. To exemplify the scope of the generalization of the certification trail technique provided, constructions of trails for abstract data types such as priority queues and union-find structures are given. These trails are applicable to any data-structure implementation of the abstract data type. It is also shown that these ideals lead naturally to monitors for data-structure operations.

  19. Influence of soil structure on contaminant leaching from injected slurry

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Animal manure application to agricultural land provides beneficial organic matter and nutrients but can spread harmful contaminants to the environment. Contamination of fresh produce, surface water and shallow groundwater with the manure-borne pollutants can be a critical concern. Leaching and persi...

  20. Experimental Study and Reactive Transport Modeling of Boric Acid Leaching of Concrete

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pabalan, R. T.; Chiang, K.-T. K.

    2013-07-01

    Borated water leakage through spent fuel pools (SFPs) at pressurized water reactors is a concern because it could cause corrosion of reinforcement steel in the concrete structure, compromise the integrity of the structure, or cause unmonitored releases of contaminated water to the environment. Experimental data indicate that pH is a critical parameter that determines the corrosion susceptibility of rebar in borated water and the degree of concrete degradation by boric acid leaching. In this study, reactive transport modeling of concrete leaching by borated water was performed to provide information on the solution pH in the concrete crack or matrix and the degree of concrete degradation at different locations of an SFP concrete structure exposed to borated water. Simulations up to 100 years were performed using different boric acid concentrations, crack apertures, and solution flow rates. Concrete cylinders were immersed in boric acid solutions for several months and the mineralogical changes and boric acid penetration in the concrete cylinder were evaluated as a function of time. The depths of concrete leaching by boric acid solution derived from the reactive transport simulations were compared with the measured boric acid penetration depth.

  1. Cyanide leaching of Au/CeO2: highly active gold clusters for 1,3-butadiene hydrogenation.

    PubMed

    Guan, Y; Hensen, E J M

    2009-11-07

    Ceria-supported gold catalysts before and after leaching by NaCN were investigated by X-ray absorption spectroscopy at the Au L(III) edge. After gold leaching, isolated gold cations remain in close interaction with the support. These ions form an ideal precursor to very small clusters of a few gold atoms upon reduction. The resulting gold clusters exhibit a very high intrinsic activity in the hydrogenation of 1,3-butadiene, which is at least one order of magnitude higher than that of the nanometre-sized gold particles in the non-leached parent catalyst. These findings point to a very strong structure sensitivity of the gold-catalyzed hydrogenation of dienes.

  2. HEAP: Heat Energy Analysis Program, a computer model simulating solar receivers. [solving the heat transfer problem

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lansing, F. L.

    1979-01-01

    A computer program which can distinguish between different receiver designs, and predict transient performance under variable solar flux, or ambient temperatures, etc. has a basic structure that fits a general heat transfer problem, but with specific features that are custom-made for solar receivers. The code is written in MBASIC computer language. The methodology followed in solving the heat transfer problem is explained. A program flow chart, an explanation of input and output tables, and an example of the simulation of a cavity-type solar receiver are included.

  3. Leaching Behavior of “AGREMAX” Collected from a Coal-Fired Power Plant in Puerto Rico

    EPA Science Inventory

    The report provides results using the Leaching Environmental Assessment Framework (LEAF) to illustrate how pH-dependence and percolation are related for a material being widely used in Puerto Rico for structural fill, road base, and other applications. Eluate concentrations from...

  4. Banana peel reductant for leaching medium grade manganese ore in sulfuric acid solution

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Aripin, H.; Joni, I. Made; Busaeri, Nundang; Usrah, Ifkar; Sudiana, I. Nyoman; Sabchevski, Svilen

    2017-03-01

    In this investigation, manganese has been produced from medium grade manganese ore from Karangnunggal mine (West Java, Indonesia). The effects of weighed amount of banana peels on the structural and leaching properties have been studied. The material's properties have been characterized on the basis of the experimental data obtained using X-ray fluorescence (XRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier transforms infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. It has been found that an increase of the weighed amount of banana peels up to 4 g leads to an increase of the leaching efficiency of manganese from manganese ore. Above 4 g, however, the leaching efficiency does not change significantly. The analysis based on the interpretation of both XRD patterns and FTIR spectrum allows one to explain the increase in the leaching efficiencies of manganese by the reduction of MnO2 minerals and by the removal of hemicelluloses groups of banana peel in the samples.

  5. The complicated substrates enhance the microbial diversity and zinc leaching efficiency in sphalerite bioleaching system.

    PubMed

    Xiao, Yunhua; Xu, YongDong; Dong, Weiling; Liang, Yili; Fan, Fenliang; Zhang, Xiaoxia; Zhang, Xian; Niu, Jiaojiao; Ma, Liyuan; She, Siyuan; He, Zhili; Liu, Xueduan; Yin, Huaqun

    2015-12-01

    This study used an artificial enrichment microbial consortium to examine the effects of different substrate conditions on microbial diversity, composition, and function (e.g., zinc leaching efficiency) through adding pyrite (SP group), chalcopyrite (SC group), or both (SPC group) in sphalerite bioleaching systems. 16S rRNA gene sequencing analysis showed that microbial community structures and compositions dramatically changed with additions of pyrite or chalcopyrite during the sphalerite bioleaching process. Shannon diversity index showed a significantly increase in the SP (1.460), SC (1.476), and SPC (1.341) groups compared with control (sphalerite group, 0.624) on day 30, meanwhile, zinc leaching efficiencies were enhanced by about 13.4, 2.9, and 13.2%, respectively. Also, additions of pyrite or chalcopyrite could increase electric potential (ORP) and the concentrations of Fe3+ and H+, which were the main factors shaping microbial community structures by Mantel test analysis. Linear regression analysis showed that ORP, Fe3+ concentration, and pH were significantly correlated to zinc leaching efficiency and microbial diversity. In addition, we found that leaching efficiency showed a positive and significant relationship with microbial diversity. In conclusion, our results showed that the complicated substrates could significantly enhance microbial diversity and activity of function.

  6. Characterization of the lead smelter slag in Santo Amaro, Bahia, Brazil.

    PubMed

    Lima, L R P de Andrade; Bernardez, L A

    2011-05-30

    For 33 years, a primary lead smelter operated in Santo Amaro (Brazil). Since the 1970s, large amounts of Pb and Cd have been widely documented in the blood and hair of people living near the smelter. The plant closed down in 1993, and several years later, the Pb levels in the blood of children under 4 years of age living near the smelter were high, where the disposed lead slag was suspected to be the main source of this contamination. The objective of this study is to elucidate the source of the Pb contamination and any other potentially toxic contamination, focusing on the characterization of the slag. The samples used for this characterization study were taken from the slag heaps. The results of the chemical analysis showed that the major constituents of the slag, in decreasing order of wt%, were the following: Fe(2)O(3) (28.10), CaO (23.11), SiO(2) (21.39), ZnO (9.47), MgO (5.44), PbO (4.06), Al(2)O(3) (3.56), C (2.26), MnO (1.44), Na(2)O (0.27), S (0.37), K(2)O (0.26), and TiO(2) (0.25). The Cd content of the slag was 57.3mg/kg, which is relatively low. The X-ray diffraction and the electron probe microanalyzer X-ray mapping indicated that the major phases in the slag were wüstite, olivine, kirschsteinite, and franklinite. Only spheroidal metallic Pb was found in the slag. The leaching study showed that the slag was stable at a pH greater than 2.8, and only in an extremely acidic environment was the solubilization of the Pb enhanced significantly. The solubilization of Zn was very limited in the acidic and alkaline environments. These results can be explained by the limited leachability of the metallic Pb and Zn-bearing compounds. The leaching study used TCLP, SPLP, and SWEP and indicated that the lead slag was stable in weak acidic environments for short contact times. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  7. The impact of cemented layers and hardpans on oxygen diffusivity in mining waste heaps: a field study of the Halsbrücke lead-zinc mine tailings (Germany).

    PubMed

    Kohfahl, Claus; Graupner, Torsten; Fetzer, Christian; Pekdeger, Asaf

    2010-11-01

    This article reports fibre-optic oxygen measurements on a reactive mine waste heap located in the polymetallic sulphide mine district of Freiberg in south-eastern Germany. The heaped material consists of sulphide-bearing tailings from a processing plant of a lead-zinc mine. Mine waste material was deposited in the water phase after separation of mining ores in a flotation process. The tailing impoundment is partly covered with coarse sand and topsoil. Oxygen profiles were monitored during one year at eleven locations showing different physical and mineralogical compositions. At each location a borehole was drilled where the optic sensors were installed at 2-5 different depths. After installation the oxygen profiles were monitored seven times during one year from 2006-2007 and three to five oxygen profiles at each location were obtained. Oxygen measurements were accompanied by physical, chemical and mineralogical data of the tailing material. Additionally, a detailed mineralogical profile was analysed at a location representative for the central part of the heap, where the cemented layers show lateral continuity. Results showed that cemented layers have a significant influence on natural attenuation of the toxic As and Pb species owing to their capacity of water retention. The measured oxygen profiles are controlled by the zone of active pyrite weathering as well as by the higher water content in the cemented layers which reduces gaseous atmospheric oxygen supply. In contrast, gypsum bearing hardpans detected at three other locations have no detectable influence on oxygen profiles. Furthermore, the grain size distribution was proved to have a major effect on oxygen diffusivity due to its control on the water saturation. Temporal changes of the oxygen profiles were only observed at locations with coarse sediment material indicating also an important advective part of gas flux. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  8. Reclamation of soils influenced by coal mining in Southern European Russia

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Alekseenko, Vladimir; Bech, Jaume; Alekseenko, Alexey; Shvydkaya, Natalya; Roca, Núria

    2016-04-01

    In the recent decades, the concentrations of metals have increased in such media of biosphere as atmosphere, hydrosphere, pedosphere. The greatest geochemical changes have occurred in soils, which are the deposing medium where the high concentrations of metals are saved for years after their direct human use. Mining sites and beneficiation zones are the areas of the highest concentrations of metals in soils. Coal mining areas in the European part of Russia (Rostov region) were selected for a detailed consideration. Soil samples were taken from the uppermost soil horizons: layer of 0-30 cm. The soil samples were analysed for gross concentrations of Cu, Zn, Pb, Ag, Sn, Mo, Ba, Co, Ni, Mn, Ti, V, Cr, Ga, P, Li, Sr, Y, Yb, Nb, Sc, and Zr, using emission spectral analysis. All ordinary analyses were carried out in the certified and accredited laboratory. The external control was conducted by the X-ray fluorescence, gravimetric, and neutron activation analyses. Calculation of random and systematic errors showed high analyses repeatability and correctness. Several cases of self-purification of soils and restoration of landscapes were discussed. The way of remediation through the flooding of mining sites with water was investigated as well as filling of natural relief depressions with soils and dumps. The process of Technosols remediation at the sites occupied by tailings of waste heaps was considered separately. In conclusion: 1. The dominant contemporary way of remediation in Southern European Russia does not prevent the spread of metals through the decades. The modern underground coal mining leads to the destruction of soils in the area directly occupied by wastes and by rock dumps located nearby. 2. Soils have not formed yet as a result of self-restoration at the waste heaps at the age of 50 years, spontaneously combusted decades ago. The vegetation formed during this time virtually eliminates the occurrence of any significant soil-forming process. The ponds formed by the flooding of burning waste heaps, do not give possibility for the formation of soils and hardly contribute to plant growth. 3. The Technosols of waste heaps' surface layers are different from the surrounding steppe soils in geochemical features and mineralogical composition at every stage of their development. 4. The atmospheric and water inflow of material from the waste heaps changes (in the cases studied - worsens) the state of steppe soils within a radius of 1 km, and leads to the increase of heavy metals content in these soils. Keywords: Technosols, Technogenic Superficial Formations, self-purification, flooding

  9. A green salt-leaching technique to produce sericin/PVA/glycerin scaffolds with distinguished characteristics for wound-dressing applications.

    PubMed

    Aramwit, Pornanong; Ratanavaraporn, Juthamas; Ekgasit, Sanong; Tongsakul, Duangta; Bang, Nipaporn

    2015-05-01

    Sericin/PVA/glycerin scaffolds could be fabricated using the freeze-drying technique; they showed good physical and biological properties and can be applied as wound dressings. However, freeze-drying is an energy- and time-consuming process with a high associated cost. In this study, an alternative, solvent-free, energy- and time-saving, low-cost salt-leaching technique is introduced as a green technology to produce sericin/PVA/glycerin scaffolds. We found that sericin/PVA/glycerin scaffolds were successfully fabricated without any crosslinking using a salt-leaching technique. The salt-leached sericin/PVA/glycerin scaffolds had a porous structure with pore interconnectivity. The sericin in the salt-leached scaffolds had a crystallinity that was as high as that of the freeze-dried scaffolds. Compared to the freeze-dried scaffolds with the same composition, the salt-leached sericin/PVA/glycerin scaffolds has larger pores, a lower Young's modulus, and faster rates of biodegradation and sericin release. When cultured with L929 mouse fibroblast cells, a higher number of cells were found in the salt-leached scaffolds. Furthermore, the salt-leached scaffolds were less adhesive to the wound, which would reduce pain upon removal. Therefore, salt-leached sericin/PVA/glycerin scaffolds with distinguished characteristics were introduced as another choice of wound dressing, and their production process was simpler, more energy efficient, and saved time and money compared to the freeze-dried scaffolds. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  10. Development of Biomimetic Hybrid Porous Scaffold of Chitosan/Polyvinyl Alcohol/Carboxymethyl Cellulose by Freeze-Dried and Salt Leached Technique.

    PubMed

    Kanimozhi, K; Basha, S Khaleel; Kumari, V Sugantha; Kaviyarasu, K

    2018-07-01

    Freeze drying and salt leaching methods were applied to fabricate Chitosan/Poly(vinyl alcohol)/Carboxymethyl cellulose (CPCMC) biomimetic porous scaffolds for soft tissue engineering. The properties of these scaffolds were investigated and compared to those by freeze drying and salt leaching methods respectively. The salt-leached CS/PVA/CMC scaffolds were easily formed into desired shapes with a uniformly distributed and interconnected pore structure with an average pore size. The mechanical strength of the scaffolds increased with the porosity, and were easily modulated by the addition of carboxymethyl cellulose. The morphology of the porous scaffolds observed using a SEM exhibited good porosity and interconnectivity of pores. MTT assay using L929 fibroblast cells demonstrated that the cell viability of the porous scaffold was good. Scaffolds prepared by salt leached method show larger swelling capacity, and mechanical strength, potent antibacterial activity and more cell viability than freeze dried method. It is found that salt leaching method has distinguished characteristics of simple, efficient, feasible and less economic than freeze dried scaffolds.

  11. Cumulative metal leaching from utilisation of secondary building materials in river engineering.

    PubMed

    Leuven, R S E W; Willems, F H G

    2004-01-01

    The present paper estimates the utilisation of bulky wastes (minestone, steel slag, phosphorus slag and demolition waste) in hydraulic engineering structures in Dutch parts of the rivers Rhine, Meuse and Scheldt over the period 1980-2025. Although they offer several economic, technical and environmental benefits, these secondary building materials contain various metals that may leach into river water. A leaching model was used to predict annual emissions of arsenic, cadmium, copper, chromium, lead, mercury, nickel and zinc. Under the current utilisation and model assumptions, the contribution of secondary building materials to metal pollution in Dutch surface waters is expected to be relatively low compared to other sources (less than 0.1% and 0.2% in the years 2000 and 2025, respectively). However, continued and widespread large-scale applications of secondary building materials will increase pollutant leaching and may require further cuts to be made in emissions from other sources to meet emission reduction targets and water quality standards. It is recommended to validate available leaching models under various field conditions. Complete registration of secondary building materials will be required to improve input data for leaching models.

  12. Leaching of glyphosate and amino-methylphosphonic acid from Danish agricultural field sites.

    PubMed

    Kjaer, Jeanne; Olsen, Preben; Ullum, Marlene; Grant, Ruth

    2005-01-01

    Pesticide leaching is an important process with respect to contamination risk to the aquatic environment. The risk of leaching was thus evaluated for glyphosate (N-phosphonomethyl-glycine) and its degradation product AMPA (amino-methylphosphonic acid) under field conditions at one sandy and two loamy sites. Over a 2-yr period, tile-drainage water, ground water, and soil water were sampled and analyzed for pesticides. At a sandy site, the strong soil sorption capacity and lack of macropores seemed to prevent leaching of both glyphosate and AMPA. At one loamy site, which received low precipitation with little intensity, the residence time within the root zone seemed sufficient to prevent leaching of glyphosate, probably due to degradation and sorption. Minor leaching of AMPA was observed at this site, although the concentration was generally low, being on the order of 0.05 microg L(-1) or less. At another loamy site, however, glyphosate and AMPA leached from the root zone into the tile drains (1 m below ground surface [BGS]) in average concentrations exceeding 0.1 microg L(-1), which is the EU threshold value for drinking water. The leaching of glyphosate was mainly governed by pronounced macropore flow occurring within the first months after application. AMPA was frequently detected more than 1.5 yr after application, thus indicating a minor release and limited degradation capacity within the soil. Leaching has so far been confined to the depth of the tile drains, and the pesticides have rarely been detected in monitoring screens located at lower depths. This study suggests that as both glyphosate and AMPA can leach through structured soils, they thereby pose a potential risk to the aquatic environment.

  13. Antimony leaching and chemical species analyses in an industrial solid waste: Surface and bulk speciation using ToF-SIMS and XANES.

    PubMed

    Kappen, P; Ferrando-Miguel, G; Reichman, S M; Innes, L; Welter, E; Pigram, P J

    2017-05-05

    The surface chemistry and bulk chemical speciation of solid industrial wastes containing 8wt-% antimony (Sb) were investigated using synchrotron X-ray Absorption Near Edge Structure (XANES) and Time-of-Flight Ion Secondary Mass Spectrometry (ToF-SIMS). Leaching experiments were conducted in order to better understand the behavior of Sb in waste streams and to inform regulatory management of antimony-containing wastes. The experiments also demonstrate how a combination of XANES and ToF-SIMS adds value to the field of waste investigations. Leaching treatments (acid and base) were performed at a synchrotron over 24h time periods. Surface analyses of the wastes before leaching showed the presence of Sb associated with S and O. Bulk analyses revealed Sb to be present, primarily, as trivalent sulfide species. Both acid and base leaching did not change the antimony speciation on the solid. Leaching transferred about 1% of the total Sb into solution where Sb was found to be present as Sb(V). XANES data showed similarities between leachate and FeSbO 4 . During base leaching, the Sb content in solution gradually increased over time, and potential desorption mechanisms are discussed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  14. A novel process for recovery of iron, titanium, and vanadium from titanomagnetite concentrates: NaOH molten salt roasting and water leaching processes.

    PubMed

    Chen, Desheng; Zhao, Longsheng; Liu, Yahui; Qi, Tao; Wang, Jianchong; Wang, Lina

    2013-01-15

    A novel process for recovering iron, titanium, and vanadium from titanomagnetite concentrates has been developed. In the present paper, the treatment of rich titanium-vanadium slag by NaOH molten salt roasting and water leaching processes is investigated. In the NaOH molten salt roasting process, the metallic iron is oxidized into ferriferous oxide, MgTi(2)O(5) is converted to NaCl-type structure of Na(2)TiO(3), and M(3)O(5) (M=Ti, Mg, Fe) is converted to α-NaFeO(2)-type structure of NaMO(2), respectively. Roasting temperature and NaOH-slag mass ratio played a considerable role in the conversion of titanium in the rich titanium-vanadium slag during the NaOH molten salt roasting process. Roasting at 500 °C for 60 min and a 1:1 NaOH-slag mass ratio produces 96.3% titanium conversion. In the water leaching process, the Na(+) was exchanged with H(+), Na(2)TiO(3) is converted to undefined structure of H(2)TiO(3), and NaMO(2) is converted to α-NaFeO(2)-type structure of HMO(2). Under the optimal conditions, 87.3% of the sodium, 42.3% of the silicon, 43.2% of the aluminum, 22.8% of the manganese, and 96.6% of the vanadium are leached out. Crown Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  15. Evaluating the biogas potential of the dry fraction from pretreatment of food waste from households.

    PubMed

    Murto, Marika; Björnsson, Lovisa; Rosqvist, Håkan; Bohn, Irene

    2013-05-01

    At the waste handling company NSR, Helsingborg, Sweden, the food waste fraction of source separated municipal solid waste is pretreated to obtain a liquid fraction, which is used for biogas production, and a dry fraction, which is at present incinerated. This pretreatment and separation is performed to remove impurities, however also some of the organic material is removed. The possibility of realising the methane potential of the dry fraction through batch-wise dry anaerobic digestion was investigated. The anaerobic digestion technique used was a two-stage process consisting of a static leach bed reactor and a methane reactor. Treatment of the dry fraction alone and in a mixture with structural material was tested to investigate the effect on the porosity of the leach bed. A tracer experiment was carried out to investigate the liquid flow through the leach beds, and this method proved useful in demonstrating a more homogenous flow through the leach bed when structural material was added. Addition of structural material to the dry fraction was needed to achieve a functional digestion process. A methane yield of 98 m3/ton was obtained from the dry fraction mixed with structural material after 76 days of digestion. This was in the same range as obtained in the laboratory scale biochemical methane potential test, showing that it was possible to extract the organic content in the dry fraction in this type of dry digestion system for the production of methane. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Conducting LaAlO3/SrTiO3 heterointerfaces on atomically-flat substrates prepared by deionized-water

    PubMed Central

    Connell, J. G.; Nichols, J.; Gruenewald, J. H.; Kim, D.-W.; Seo, S. S. A.

    2016-01-01

    We have investigated how the recently-developed water-leaching method for atomically-flat SrTiO3 (STO) substrates affects the transport properties of LaAlO3 (LAO) and STO heterointerfaces. Using pulsed laser deposition at identical growth conditions, we have synthesized epitaxial LAO thin-films on two different STO substrates, which are prepared by water-leaching and buffered hydrofluoric acid (BHF) etching methods. The structural, transport, and optical properties of LAO/STO heterostructures grown on water-leached substrates show the same high-quality as the samples grown on BHF-etched substrates. These results indicate that the water-leaching method can be used to grow complex oxide heterostructures with atomically well-defined heterointerfaces without safety concerns. PMID:27033248

  17. TRACE METAL LEACHING BEHAVIOR STUDIED THROUGH THE USE OF PARAMETRIC MODELING OF WATER BORNE SOIL PARTICLES FRACTIONATED WITH A SPLIT-FLOW THIN CELL

    EPA Science Inventory

    Removal of pollutant-laden particles via engineered structures such as settling ponds is one goal of storm water management. Leaching of metals as a function of particle size affects the ability of settling ponds to remoe the polluted particle. In this investigation, water borne ...

  18. Recovery of Rare Earth Elements and Yttrium from Passive-Remediation Systems of Acid Mine Drainage.

    PubMed

    Ayora, Carlos; Macías, Francisco; Torres, Ester; Lozano, Alba; Carrero, Sergio; Nieto, José-Miguel; Pérez-López, Rafael; Fernández-Martínez, Alejandro; Castillo-Michel, Hiram

    2016-08-02

    Rare earth elements and yttrium (REY) are raw materials of increasing importance for modern technologies, and finding new sources has become a pressing need. Acid mine drainage (AMD) is commonly considered an environmental pollution issue. However, REY concentrations in AMD can be several orders of magnitude higher than in naturally occurring water bodies. With respect to shale standards, the REY distribution pattern in AMD is enriched in intermediate and valuable REY, such as Tb and Dy. The objective of the present work is to study the behavior of REY in AMD passive-remediation systems. Traditional AMD passive remediation systems are based on the reaction of AMD with calcite-based permeable substrates followed by decantation ponds. Experiments with two columns simulating AMD treatment demonstrate that schwertmannite does not accumulate REY, which, instead, are retained in the basaluminite residue. The same observation is made in two field-scale treatments from the Iberian Pyrite Belt (IPB, southwest Spain). On the basis of the amplitude of this process and on the extent of the IPB, our findings suggest that the proposed AMD remediation process can represent a modest but suitable REY source. In this sense, the IPB could function as a giant heap-leaching process of regional scale in which rain and oxygen act as natural driving forces with no energy investment. In addition to having environmental benefits of its treatment, AMD is expected to last for hundreds of years, and therefore, the total reserves are practically unlimited.

  19. Uranium mining in Portugal: a review of the environmental legacies of the largest mines and environmental and human health impacts.

    PubMed

    Pereira, R; Barbosa, S; Carvalho, F P

    2014-04-01

    The history of uranium mining in Portugal during almost one century has followed international demand peaks of both radium and uranium, which in turn were driven by medical, military, and civil applications. Nowadays, following price drop in the 1980s, mining activities decreased and ceased in 2001. The current challenge is to deal with environmental legacies left by old uranium mines, mainly located in Viseu and Guarda districts. In 2001, based on several radiological surveys carried out, the Portuguese government assumed the remediation costs of abandoned mine areas for environmental safety and public health protection. Detailed environmental and public health risk assessments were performed under the scope of studies both requested by the government and by funded research projects. It was found that the existing risks, due to radiological and chemical exposures to metals and radionuclide's, were particularly high at the old milling facilities and mines where in situ and heap leaching of low-grade ore occurred. The different studies, involving both humans and non-human species from different trophic levels, demonstrated the existence of effects at different levels of biological organization (molecular, cellular, tissues, individuals, and populations) and on ecosystem services. To mitigate the risks, the environmental rehabilitation works at the Urgeiriça mine complex are almost complete, while at Cunha Baixa mine, they are presently in progress. These works and environmental improvements achieved and expected are described herein.

  20. V-shaped Pits in Regions of Ancient Baekje Kingdom Paleoparasitologically Confirmed as Likely Human-Waste Reservoirs

    PubMed Central

    Shin, Dong Hoon; Shim, Sang-Yuck; Kim, Myeung Ju; Oh, Chang Seok; Lee, Mi-Hyun; Jung, Suk Bae; Lee, Geon Il; Chai, Jong-Yil

    2014-01-01

    In a paleo-parasitological analysis of soil samples obtained from V-shaped pits dating to the ancient Baekje period in Korean history, we discovered Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura, and Clonorchis sinensis eggs. In light of the samples' seriously contaminated state, the V-shaped pits might have served as toilets, cesspits, or dung heaps. For a long period of time, researchers scouring archaeological sites in Korea have had difficulties locating such structures. In this context then, the present report is unique because similar kind of the ancient ruins must become an ideal resource for successful sampling in our forthcoming paleoparasitological studies. PMID:25352710

  1. Cyanogenic potential of cassava peels and their detoxification for utilization as livestock feed.

    PubMed

    Tweyongyere, Robert; Katongole, Ignatious

    2002-12-01

    This study determined the cyanogenic potential of the cassava peels and assess the effectiveness of sun drying, heap fermentation and wet fermentation (soaking) in reducing the cyanide potential of the peels. Fresh cassava peels from major fresh food markets in Kampala and cassava grown in various parts of Uganda from Namolonge Agricultural and Animal Research Institute were used. The fresh peels from the market were subjected to the different detoxification methods foe 5 d; the cyanide potential was determined by enzymatic assay. The mean potential of the cassava peels from the food markets Kampala was 856 mg cyanide equivalen/kg of dry matter. The potential of the peels of the 14 cultivars fell between 253 and 1081 mg cyanide eQuivalent/kg of dry matter. High cyanogenic potential cultivars dominate on the market and pose danger of poisoning to livestock fed on fresh cassava peels. Treatment of the peels by sun-drying, heap fermentation on soaking reduced the cyanide potential to below 100 mg cyanide equivalent/kg of dry matter at 48, 72 and 96 h respectively. Sun-dying caused an early sharp fall in the cyanide potential, but heap fermentation or soaking gave the lowest residual cyanide after 120 h. Cassava peels could be safely used as livestock feed if they are treated to reduce the cyanogenic potential.

  2. Effect of acid rain pH on leaching behavior of cement stabilized lead-contaminated soil.

    PubMed

    Du, Yan-Jun; Wei, Ming-Li; Reddy, Krishna R; Liu, Zhao-Peng; Jin, Fei

    2014-04-30

    Cement stabilization is a practical approach to remediate soils contaminated with high levels of lead. However, the potential for leaching of lead out of these stabilized soils under variable acid rain pH conditions is a major environmental concern. This study investigates the effects of acid rain on the leaching characteristics of cement stabilized lead contaminated soil under different pH conditions. Clean kaolin clay and the same soil spiked with 2% lead contamination are stabilized with cement contents of 12 and 18% and then cured for 28 days. The soil samples are then subjected to a series of accelerated leaching tests (or semi-dynamic leaching tests) using a simulated acid rain leachant prepared at pH 2.0, 4.0 or 7.0. The results show that the strongly acidic leachant (pH ∼2.0) significantly altered the leaching behavior of lead as well as calcium present in the soil. However, the differences in the leaching behavior of the soil when the leachant was mildly acidic (pH ∼4.0) and neutral (pH ∼7.0) prove to be minor. In addition, it is observed that the lead contamination and cement content levels can have a considerable impact on the leaching behavior of the soils. Overall, the leachability of lead and calcium is attributed to the stability of the hydration products and their consequent influence on the soil buffering capacity and structure. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  3. Correlation among physical and electrochemical behaviour of nanostructured electrolytic manganese dioxide from leach liquor and synthetic for aqueous asymmetric capacitor.

    PubMed

    Minakshi Sundaram, Manickam; Biswal, Avijit; Mitchell, David; Jones, Rob; Fernandez, Carlos

    2016-02-14

    An attempt has been made to correlate the differences in structural parameters, surface areas, morphology etc. with the electrochemical capacitive behaviour of the EMDs. The nanostructured electrolytic manganese dioxides (EMD) have been synthesized through electrodepositing MnO2 from two different leach liquors and a synthetic analogue thereof. The structural and chemical state was determined using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) respectively. Multiplet structure determination led to estimates of the manganese valence states present in the EMD. The EMDs have been tested in an asymmetric capacitor which we have developed. This used activated carbon as the negative electrode and the various EMDs as the positive electrode. Aqueous 2 M NaOH solution was used as the electrolyte. The capacitor achieved 1.6 V corresponding to a capacitance of ∼50 F g(-1) of the EMDs from leach liquors. The EMD derived from the synthetic solution showed an inferior capacitance of 25 F g(-1). Extended cycling (2000 cycles), showed 100% capacity retention was achieved for one EMD produced from the leach liquor derived from low-grade manganese ore/residue. This outstanding capacitor performance was correlated with the presence of a nanofibrous morphology. These findings open up the possibility of extracting a high performance EMD product from a low cost, low-grade source of manganese.

  4. Effect of calcination temperature of a copper ferrite synthesized by a sol-gel method on its structural characteristics and performance as Fenton catalyst to remove gallic acid from water.

    PubMed

    López-Ramón, María V; Álvarez, Miguel A; Moreno-Castilla, Carlos; Fontecha-Cámara, María A; Yebra-Rodríguez, África; Bailón-García, Esther

    2018-02-01

    A copper ferrite synthesized by a sol-gel combustion method was calcined at different temperatures up to 800°C, determining changes in its structural characteristics and magnetic measurements and studying its catalytic performance in gallic acid removal by Fenton reaction. The main objective was to study the effect of the calcination temperature of copper ferrite on its crystalline phase formation and transformation, activity and metal ion leaching. The cubic-to-tetragonal transformation of the spinel occurred via its reaction with the CuO phase, displacing Fe 3+ ions in B (octahedral) sites out of the spinel structure by the following reaction: 2Fe 3+ B +3CuO→Fe 2 O 3 +3Cu 2+ B . The catalysts showed superparamagnetic or substantial superparamagnetic behaviour. At higher calcination temperatures, catalyst activity was lower, and Cu ion leaching was markedly decreased. There was no Fe ion leaching with any catalyst. The as-prepared catalyst showed better catalytic performance than a commercial copper ferrite. Leached Cu ions acted as homogeneous catalysts, and their contribution to the overall removal mechanism was examined. Cu 2 O present in the as-prepared catalysts made only a small contribution to their activity. Finally, the reutilization of various catalysts was studied by performing different catalytic cycles. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  5. Do neural nets learn statistical laws behind natural language?

    PubMed

    Takahashi, Shuntaro; Tanaka-Ishii, Kumiko

    2017-01-01

    The performance of deep learning in natural language processing has been spectacular, but the reasons for this success remain unclear because of the inherent complexity of deep learning. This paper provides empirical evidence of its effectiveness and of a limitation of neural networks for language engineering. Precisely, we demonstrate that a neural language model based on long short-term memory (LSTM) effectively reproduces Zipf's law and Heaps' law, two representative statistical properties underlying natural language. We discuss the quality of reproducibility and the emergence of Zipf's law and Heaps' law as training progresses. We also point out that the neural language model has a limitation in reproducing long-range correlation, another statistical property of natural language. This understanding could provide a direction for improving the architectures of neural networks.

  6. ``Carbon Credits'' for Resource-Bounded Computations Using Amortised Analysis

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jost, Steffen; Loidl, Hans-Wolfgang; Hammond, Kevin; Scaife, Norman; Hofmann, Martin

    Bounding resource usage is important for a number of areas, notably real-time embedded systems and safety-critical systems. In this paper, we present a fully automatic static type-based analysis for inferring upper bounds on resource usage for programs involving general algebraic datatypes and full recursion. Our method can easily be used to bound any countable resource, without needing to revisit proofs. We apply the analysis to the important metrics of worst-case execution time, stack- and heap-space usage. Our results from several realistic embedded control applications demonstrate good matches between our inferred bounds and measured worst-case costs for heap and stack usage. For time usage we infer good bounds for one application. Where we obtain less tight bounds, this is due to the use of software floating-point libraries.

  7. Density Functional Theory Study of Leaching Performance of Different Acids on Pyrochlore (100) Surface

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yang, Xiuli; Fang, Qing; Ouyang, Hui

    2018-04-01

    Pyrochlore leaching using hydrofluoric, sulfuric, and hydrochloric acids has been studied via experimental methods for years, but the interactions between niobium atoms on the pyrochlore surface and different acids have not been investigated. In this work, first-principles calculations based on density functional theory were used to elucidate the leaching performance of these three acids from the viewpoint of geometrical and electronic structures. The calculation results indicate that sulfate, chloride, and fluoride anions influence the geometric structure of pyrochlore (100) to different extents, decreasing in the order: sulfate, fluoride, chloride. Orbitals of O1 and O2 atoms of sulfate hybridized with those of surface niobium atom. Fluorine orbitals hybridized with those of surface niobium atoms. However, no obvious overlap exists between any orbitals of chlorine and surface niobium, revealing that chlorine does not interact chemically with surface niobium atoms.

  8. Density Functional Theory Study of Leaching Performance of Different Acids on Pyrochlore (100) Surface

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yang, Xiuli; Fang, Qing; Ouyang, Hui

    2018-06-01

    Pyrochlore leaching using hydrofluoric, sulfuric, and hydrochloric acids has been studied via experimental methods for years, but the interactions between niobium atoms on the pyrochlore surface and different acids have not been investigated. In this work, first-principles calculations based on density functional theory were used to elucidate the leaching performance of these three acids from the viewpoint of geometrical and electronic structures. The calculation results indicate that sulfate, chloride, and fluoride anions influence the geometric structure of pyrochlore (100) to different extents, decreasing in the order: sulfate, fluoride, chloride. Orbitals of O1 and O2 atoms of sulfate hybridized with those of surface niobium atom. Fluorine orbitals hybridized with those of surface niobium atoms. However, no obvious overlap exists between any orbitals of chlorine and surface niobium, revealing that chlorine does not interact chemically with surface niobium atoms.

  9. Immobilization of simulated radioactive soil waste containing cerium by self-propagating high-temperature synthesis

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mao, Xianhe; Qin, Zhigui; Yuan, Xiaoning; Wang, Chunming; Cai, Xinan; Zhao, Weixia; Zhao, Kang; Yang, Ping; Fan, Xiaoling

    2013-11-01

    A simulated radioactive soil waste containing cerium as an imitator element has been immobilized by a thermite self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS) process. The compositions, structures, and element leaching rates of products with different cerium contents have been characterized. To investigate the influence of iron on the chemical stability of the immobilized products, leaching tests of samples with different iron contents with different leaching solutions were carried out. The results showed that the imitator element cerium mainly forms the crystalline phases CeAl11O18 and Ce2SiO5. The leaching rate of cerium over a period of 28 days was 10-5-10-6 g/(m2 day). Iron in the reactants, the reaction products, and the environment has no significant effect on the chemical stability of the immobilized SHS products.

  10. Isolation, structural determination, synthesis and quantitative determination of impurities in Intron-A, leached from a silicone tubing.

    PubMed

    Chan, Tze-Ming; Pramanik, Birendra; Aslanian, Robert; Gullo, Vincent; Patel, Mahesh; Cronin, Bart; Boyce, Chris; McCormick, Kevin; Berlin, Mike; Zhu, Xiaohong; Buevich, Alexei; Heimark, Larry; Bartner, Peter; Chen, Guodong; Pu, Haiyan; Hegde, Vinod

    2009-02-20

    Investigation of unexpected levels of impurities in Intron product has revealed the presence of low levels of impurities leached from the silicone tubing (Rehau RAU-SIK) on the Bosch filling line. In order to investigate the effect of these compounds (1a, 1b and 2) on humans, they were isolated identified and synthesized. They were extracted from the tubing by stirring in Intron placebo at room temperature for 72 h and were enriched on a reverse phase CHP-20P column, eluting with gradient aqueous ACN and were separated by HPLC. Structural elucidation of 1a, 1b and 2 by MS and NMR studies demonstrated them to be halogenated biphenyl carboxylic acids. The structures were confirmed by independent synthesis. Levels of extractable impurities in first filled vials of actual production are estimated to be in the range of 0.01-0.55 microg/vial for each leached impurity. Potential toxicity of these extractables does not represent a risk for patients under the conditions of clinical use.

  11. Interrogating the catalytic mechanism of nanoparticle mediated Stille coupling reactions employing bio-inspired Pd nanocatalysts.

    PubMed

    Pacardo, Dennis B; Slocik, Joseph M; Kirk, Kyle C; Naik, Rajesh R; Knecht, Marc R

    2011-05-01

    To address issues concerning the global environmental and energy state, new catalytic technologies must be developed that translate ambient and efficient conditions to heavily used reactions. To achieve this, the structure/function relationship between model catalysts and individual reactions must be critically discerned to identify structural motifs responsible for the reactivity. This is especially true for nanoparticle-based systems where this level of information remains limited. Here we present evidence indicating that peptide-capped Pd nanoparticles drive Stille C-C coupling reactions via Pd atom leaching. Through a series of reaction studies, the materials are shown to be optimized for reactivity under ambient conditions where increases in temperature or catalyst concentration deactivate reactivity due to the leaching process. A quartz crystal microbalance analysis demonstrates that Pd leaching occurs during the initial oxidative addition step at the nanoparticle surface by aryl halides. Together, this suggests that peptide-based materials may be optimally suited for use as model systems to isolate structural motifs responsible for the generation of catalytically reactive materials under ambient synthetic conditions. © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2011

  12. Interrogating the catalytic mechanism of nanoparticle mediated Stille coupling reactions employing bio-inspired Pd nanocatalysts

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pacardo, Dennis B.; Slocik, Joseph M.; Kirk, Kyle C.; Naik, Rajesh R.; Knecht, Marc R.

    2011-05-01

    To address issues concerning the global environmental and energy state, new catalytic technologies must be developed that translate ambient and efficient conditions to heavily used reactions. To achieve this, the structure/function relationship between model catalysts and individual reactions must be critically discerned to identify structural motifs responsible for the reactivity. This is especially true for nanoparticle-based systems where this level of information remains limited. Here we present evidence indicating that peptide-capped Pd nanoparticles drive Stille C-C coupling reactions via Pd atom leaching. Through a series of reaction studies, the materials are shown to be optimized for reactivity under ambient conditions where increases in temperature or catalyst concentration deactivate reactivity due to the leaching process. A quartz crystal microbalance analysis demonstrates that Pd leaching occurs during the initial oxidative addition step at the nanoparticle surface by aryl halides. Together, this suggests that peptide-based materials may be optimally suited for use as model systems to isolate structural motifs responsible for the generation of catalytically reactive materials under ambient synthetic conditions.

  13. Influence of a heavy rainfall event on the leaching of [14C]isoproturon and its degradation products in outdoor lysimeters.

    PubMed

    Dörfler, Ulrike; Cao, Guoyin; Grundmann, Sabine; Schroll, Reiner

    2006-11-01

    In four different agricultural soils the long-term leaching behaviour of [14C]isoproturon was studied in outdoor lysimeters (2 m length, 1 m2 surface area). The herbicide was applied in spring 1997 and spring 2001. At the end of the first 4-year-investigation period between 0.13% and 0.31% of the applied radioactivity was leached. Isoproturon or known metabolites could not be detected in the leachate. However, shortly after the second application isoproturon and its degradation products 2-hydroxy-isoproturon and monodemethyl-isoproturon were leached via preferential flow in one of the lysimeters (Mollic gleysol) in concentrations of 4.5 microg L-1, 3.1 microg L-1 and 0.9 microg L-1, respectively, thus considerably exceeding the EU threshold limit of 0.1 microg L-1 for ground and drinking water. The results indicate that in soils where mass flow transfer dominates, leaching of isoproturon to groundwater is of low probability whereas in highly structured soils which have the tendency to form macropores, isoproturon can be transported via preferential flow to the groundwater.

  14. Acid leaching of natural chrysotile asbestos to mesoporous silica fibers

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Maletaškić, Jelena; Stanković, Nadežda; Daneu, Nina; Babić, Biljana; Stoiljković, Milovan; Yoshida, Katsumi; Matović, Branko

    2018-04-01

    Nanofibrous silica with a high surface area was produced from chrysotile by the acid-leaching method. Natural mineral chrysotile asbestos from Stragari, Korlace in Serbia was used as the starting material. The fibers were modified by chemical treatment with 1 M HCl and the mineral dissolution was monitored by transmission electron microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, inductively coupled plasma spectrometry and low-temperature nitrogen adsorption techniques to highlight the effects of the leaching process. The results showed that the applied concentration of acid solution and processing time of 4 h were sufficient to effectively remove the magnesium hydroxide layer and transform the crystal structure of the hazardous starting chrysotile to porous SiO2 nanofibers. With prolonged acid leaching, the specific surface area, S BET, calculated by BET equation, was increased from 147 up to 435 m2 g- 1, with micropores representing a significant part of the specific surface.

  15. 40 CFR 440.104 - New source performance standards (NSPS).

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... demonstrated technology (BADT): (a) The concentration of pollutants discharged in mine drainage from mines that... process wastewater to navigable waters from mine areas and mills processes and areas that use dump, heap...

  16. Analysis towards VMEM File of a Suspended Virtual Machine

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Song, Zheng; Jin, Bo; Sun, Yongqing

    With the popularity of virtual machines, forensic investigators are challenged with more complicated situations, among which discovering the evidences in virtualized environment is of significant importance. This paper mainly analyzes the file suffixed with .vmem in VMware Workstation, which stores all pseudo-physical memory into an image. The internal file structure of .vmem file is studied and disclosed. Key information about processes and threads of a suspended virtual machine is revealed. Further investigation into the Windows XP SP3 heap contents is conducted and a proof-of-concept tool is provided. Different methods to obtain forensic memory images are introduced, with both advantages and limits analyzed. We conclude with an outlook.

  17. High-resolution shear-wave seismic reflection as a tool to image near-surface subrosion structures - a case study in Bad Frankenhausen, Germany

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wadas, Sonja H.; Polom, Ulrich; Krawczyk, Charlotte M.

    2016-10-01

    Subrosion is the subsurface leaching of soluble rocks that results in the formation of depression and collapse structures. This global phenomenon is a geohazard in urban areas. To study near-surface subrosion structures, four shear-wave seismic reflection profiles, with a total length of ca. 332 m, were carried out around the famous leaning church tower of Bad Frankenhausen in northern Thuringia, Germany, which shows an inclination of 4.93° from the vertical. Most of the geological underground of Thuringia is characterized by soluble Permian deposits, and the Kyffhäuser Southern Margin Fault is assumed to be a main pathway for water to leach the evaporite. The seismic profiles were acquired with the horizontal micro-vibrator ELVIS, developed at Leibniz Institute for Applied Geophysics (LIAG), and a 72 m long landstreamer equipped with 72 horizontal geophones. The high-resolution seismic sections show subrosion-induced structures to a depth of ca. 100 m and reveal five features associated with the leaching of Permian deposits: (1) lateral and vertical varying reflection patterns caused by strongly heterogeneous strata, (2) discontinuous reflectors, small offsets, and faults, which show the underground is heavily fractured, (3) formation of depression structures in the near-surface, (4) diffractions in the unmigrated seismic sections that indicate increased scattering of the seismic waves, and (5) varying seismic velocities and low-velocity zones that are presumably caused by fractures and upward-migrating cavities. A previously undiscovered southward-dipping listric normal fault was also found, to the north of the church. It probably serves as a pathway for water to leach the Permian formations below the church and causes the tilting of the church tower. This case study shows the potential of horizontal shear-wave seismic reflection to image near-surface subrosion structures in an urban environment with a horizontal resolution of less than 1 m in the uppermost 10-15 m.

  18. Reproducing ten years of road ageing--accelerated carbonation and leaching of EAF steel slag.

    PubMed

    Suer, Pascal; Lindqvist, Jan-Erik; Arm, Maria; Frogner-Kockum, Paul

    2009-09-01

    Reuse of industrial aggregates is still hindered by concern for their long-term properties. This paper proposes a laboratory method for accelerated ageing of steel slag, to predict environmental and technical properties, starting from fresh slag. Ageing processes in a 10-year old asphalt road with steel slag of electric arc furnace (EAF) type in the subbase were identified by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and leaching tests. Samples from the road centre and the pavement edge were compared with each other and with samples of fresh slag. It was found that slag from the pavement edge showed traces of carbonation and leaching processes, whereas the road centre material was nearly identical to fresh slag, in spite of an accessible particle structure. Batches of moisturized road centre material exposed to oxygen, nitrogen or carbon dioxide (CO2) were used for accelerated ageing. Time (7-14 days), temperature (20-40 degrees C) and initial slag moisture content (8-20%) were varied to achieve the carbonation (decrease in pH) and leaching that was observed in the pavement edge material. After ageing, water was added to assess leaching of metals and macroelements. 12% moisture, CO2 and seven days at 40 degrees C gave the lowest pH value. This also reproduced the observed ageing effect for Ca, Cu, Ba, Fe, Mn, Pb, Ca (decreased leaching) and for V, Si, and Al (increased leaching). However, ageing effects on SO4, DOC and Cr were not reproduced.

  19. Combined Geophysical Prospecting in Andalusia (Spain): Geomagnetics, GPR and IP Geoelectrics in Munigua, Montes de San Benito and Alcorrín.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Meyer, C.; Ullrich, B.

    2007-05-01

    According to the special tasks of archaeologists of the German Archaeological Institute (Madrid department) geophysical investigation campaigns were realized at several sites in Andalusia during the last five years. In Munigua (Province of Seville) - a Roman municipium and centre of metal production - building structures like the city wall and production sites extra muro were investigated by means of GPR measurements. A new method permitting virtual or physical reconstructions of archaeological features in the ground is presented using the original geophysical data and avoiding the speculative aspect of previous reconstruction techniques. In addition the Roman archaeo-metallurgical remains were surveyed in order to investigate the economic base of the Roman town and its environs. Geoelectrical measurements were realized recording the complex resistivity. The extension and depth of slag heaps are estimated using 2D and 3D images of resistivity ρ and phase angle φ. The slag heaps are well-defined by IP effects from the bedrock. The results allow estimating the amount of processed metal in Munigua for the first time. The main focus of the survey in Montes de San Benito (Province of Huelva) was the investigation of the structure of a Celtiberic settlement closely connected to iron production as well. Geomagnetic mapping and GPR measurements were applied in order to detect the buried building structures and the street system. Several single buildings, the main axes and remains of furnaces were localized. A similar procedure was chosen prospecting the fortified hill of Alcorrìn (Province of Malaga), a Phoenician settlement nearby the Mediterranean coast. The both spectacular and rarely researched site is surrounded by an up to 5 m thick wall. Main goal of the two survey campaigns was the internal structure of the hill fort. Using geomagnetic mapping and GPR a second fortification system could be identified. Inside the second ring wall building structures made of mud-brick and lime stone were investigated and proved by excavations. The three examples convincingly demonstrate the close cooperation between archaeologists and geophysicist in order to find effective ways to solve archaeological questions by means of geophysical prospecting methods even under challenging conditions. Matter of particular interest has been the search for visualization techniques meeting both scientific standards and ensuring best possible clearness.

  20. Programming with non-heap memory in the real time specification for Java

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bollella, G.; Canham, T.; Carson, V.; Champlin, V.; Dvorak, D.; Giovannoni, B.; Indictor, M.; Meyer, K.; Reinholtz, A.; Murray, K.

    2003-01-01

    The Real-Time Specification for Java (RTSJ) provides facilities for deterministic, real-time execution in a language that is otherwise subject to variable latencies in memory allocation and garbage collection.

  1. Spatial variation in herbicide leaching from a marine clay soil via subsurface drains

    PubMed Central

    Ulén, Barbro M; Larsbo, Mats; Kreuger, Jenny K; Svanbäck, Annika

    2013-01-01

    Background Subsurface transport via tile drains can significantly contribute to pesticide contamination of surface waters. The spatial variation in subsurface leaching of normally applied herbicides was examined together with phosphorus losses in 24 experimental plots with water sampled flow-proportionally. The study site was a flat, tile-drained area with 60% marine clay in the topsoil in southeast Sweden. The objectives were to quantify the leaching of frequently used herbicides from a tile drained cracking clay soil and to evaluate the variation in leaching within the experimental area and relate this to topsoil management practices (tillage method and structure liming). Results In summer 2009, 0.14, 0.22 and 1.62%, respectively, of simultaneously applied amounts of MCPA, fluroxypyr and clopyralid were leached by heavy rain five days after spraying. In summer 2011, on average 0.70% of applied bentazone was leached by short bursts of intensive rain 12 days after application. Peak flow concentrations for 50% of the treated area for MCPA and 33% for bentazone exceeded the Swedish no-effect guideline values for aquatic ecosystems. Approximately 0.08% of the glyphosate applied was leached in dissolved form in the winters of 2008/2009 and 2010/2011. Based on measurements of glyphosate in particulate form, total glyphosate losses were twice as high (0.16%) in the second winter. The spatial inter-plot variation was large (72–115%) for all five herbicides studied, despite small variations (25%) in water discharge. Conclusions The study shows the importance of local scale soil transport properties for herbicide leaching in cracking clay soils. © 2013 The Authors. Pest Management Science published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry. PMID:23658148

  2. Influence of leaching on surface composition, microstructure, and valence band of single grain icosahedral Al-Cu-Fe quasicrystal

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Lowe, M.; McGrath, R.; Sharma, H. R.

    The use of quasicrystals as precursors to catalysts for the steam reforming of methanol is potentially one of the most important applications of these new materials. To develop application as a technology requires a detailed understanding of the microscopic behavior of the catalyst. Here, we report the effect of leaching treatments on the surface microstructure, chemical composition, and valence band of the icosahedral (i-) Al-Cu-Fe quasicrystal in an attempt to prepare a model catalyst. The high symmetry fivefold surface of a single grain i-Al-Cu-Fe quasicrystal was leached with NaOH solution for varying times, and the resulting surface was characterized bymore » x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The leaching treatments preferentially remove Al producing a capping layer consisting of Fe and Cu oxides. The subsurface layer contains elemental Fe and Cu in addition to the oxides. The quasicrystalline bulk structure beneath remains unchanged. The subsurface gradually becomes Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4} rich with increasing leaching time. The surface after leaching exhibits micron sized dodecahedral cavities due to preferential leaching along the fivefold axis. Nanoparticles of the transition metals and their oxides are precipitated on the surface after leaching. The size of the nanoparticles is estimated by high resolution transmission microscopy to be 5-20 nm, which is in agreement with the AFM results. Selected area electron diffraction (SAED) confirms the crystalline nature of the nanoparticles. SAED further reveals the formation of an interface between the high atomic density lattice planes of nanoparticles and the quasicrystal. These results provide an important insight into the preparation of model catalysts of nanoparticles for steam reforming of methanol.« less

  3. Environmental radioactivity assessment around old uranium mining sites near Mangualde (Viseu), Portugal

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Carvalho, Fernando P.; Torres, Lubelia M.; Oliveira, Joao M.

    2007-07-01

    Uranium ore was extracted in the surroundings of Mangualde city, North of Portugal, in the mines of Cunha Baixa, Quinta do Bispo and Espinho until a few years ago. Mining waste, milling tailings and acid mine waters are the on site remains of this extractive activity. Environmental radioactivity measurements were performed in and around these sites in order to assess the dispersal of radionuclides from uranium mining waste and the spread of acidic waters resulting from the in situ uranium leaching with sulphuric acid. Results show migration of acid waters into groundwater around the Cunha Baixa mine. This groundwater ismore » tapped by irrigation wells in the agriculture area near the Cunha Baixa village. Water from wells displayed uranium ({sup 238}U) concentrations up to 19x10{sup 3} mBq L{sup -1} and sulphate ion concentrations up to 1070 mg L{sup -1}. These enhanced concentrations are positively correlated with low water pH, pointing to a common origin for radioactivity, dissolved sulphate, and acidity in underground mining works. Radionuclide concentrations were determined in horticulture and farm products from this area also and results suggest low soil to plant transfer of radionuclides and low food chain transfer of radionuclides to man. Analysis of aerosols in surface air showed re suspension of dust from mining and milling waste heaps. Therefore, it is recommended to maintain mine water treatment and to plan remediation of these mine sites in order to prevent waste dispersal in the environment. (authors)« less

  4. Reduced nutrient pollution in a rural stream following septic tank upgrade and installation of runoff retention measures.

    PubMed

    Ockenden, M C; Quinton, J N; Favaretto, N; Deasy, C; Surridge, B

    2014-07-01

    Surface water quality in the UK and much of Western Europe has improved in recent decades, in response to better point source controls and the regulation of fertilizer, manure and slurry use. However, diffuse sources of pollution, such as leaching or runoff of nutrients from agricultural fields, and micro-point sources including farmyards, manure heaps and septic tank sewerage systems, particularly systems without soil adsorption beds, are now hypothesised to contribute a significant proportion of the nutrients delivered to surface watercourses. Tackling such sources in an integrated manner is vital, if improvements in freshwater quality are to continue. In this research, we consider the combined effect of constructing small field wetlands and improving a septic tank system on stream water quality within an agricultural catchment in Cumbria, UK. Water quality in the ditch-wetland system was monitored by manual sampling at fortnightly intervals (April-October 2011 and February-October 2012), with the septic tank improvement taking place in February 2012. Reductions in nutrient concentrations were observed through the catchment, by up to 60% when considering total phosphorus (TP) entering and leaving a wetland with a long residence time. Average fluxes of TP, soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) and ammonium-N (NH4-N) at the head of the ditch system in 2011 (before septic tank improvement) compared to 2012 (after septic tank improvement) were reduced by 28%, 9% and 37% respectively. However, TP concentration data continue to show a clear dilution with increasing flow, indicating that the system remained point source dominated even after the septic tank improvement.

  5. Toxic element mobility assessment and modeling for regional geo-scientific survey to support Risk Assessment in a European Union context

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Abdaal, Ahmed; Jordan, Gyozo; Bartha, Andras; Fugedi, Ubul

    2013-04-01

    The Mine Waste Directive 2006/21/EC requires the risk-based inventory of all mine waste sites in Europe. The geochemical documentation concerning inert classification and ranking of the mine wastes requires detailed field study and laboratory testing and analyses of waste material to assess the Acid Mine Drainage potential and toxic element mobility. The procedure applied in this study used a multi-level decision support scheme including: 1) expert judgment, 2) data review, 3) representative field sampling and laboratory analysis of formations listed in the Inert Mining Waste List, and 4) requesting available laboratory analysis data from selected operating mines. Based on expert judgment, the listed formations were classified into three categories. A: inert B: probably inert, but has to be checked, C: probably not inert, has to be examined. This paper discusses the heavy metal contamination risk assessment (RA) in leached quarry-mine waste sites in Hungary. In total 34 mine waste sites (including tailing lagoons and heaps of both abandoned mines and active quarries) have been selected for scientific testing using the EU Pre-selection Protocol. Over 93 field samples have been collected from the mine sites including Ore (Andesite and Ryolite), Coal (Lignite, black and brown coals), Peat, Alginite, Bauxite, Clay and Limestone. Laboratory analyses of the total toxic element content (aqua regia extraction), the mobile toxic element content (deionized water leaching) and the analysis of different forms of sulfur (sulfuric acid potential) ) on the base of Hungarian GKM Decree No. 14/2008. (IV. 3) concerning mining waste management. A detailed geochemical study together with spatial analysis and GIS has been performed to derive a geochemically sound contamination RA of the mine waste sites. Key parameters such as heavy metal and sulphur content, in addition to the distance to the nearest surface and ground water bodies, or to sensitive receptors such as settlements and protected areas are calculated and statistically evaluated using STATGRAPHICS® in order to calibrate the RA methods. Results show that some of the waste rock materials assumed to be inert were found non/inert. Thus, regional RA needs more spatial and petrological examination with special care to rock and mineral deposit genetics.

  6. [Effects of several low-molecular-weight organic acids on the release kinetic of endosulfan from red soil].

    PubMed

    Zhao, Zhen-hua; Wu, Yu; Jiang, Xin; Xia, Li-ling; Ni, Li-xiao

    2009-10-15

    The kinetic release behaviors of a-endosulfan from red soil with three kinds of low-molecular-weight organic acids (LMWOA: oxalate, tartrate and citrate) solution and water leaching were investigated by kinetic device designed by ourselves and batch method. The results show that: the release percentage of endosulfan from red soil by tartrate and citrate solution (10 mmol/L) can increase by 7%-18% more than that by distilled water and oxalate solution, especially for tartrate solution. There is no significant difference between distilled water and oxalate solution for the release percentage of endosulfan (p > 0.05). There are two stages of quick and slow for the release of endosulfan from red soil, and the leaching speed is quicker especially for the initial 200 mL leaching solution. When using distilled water or oxalate solution as leaching solution, the best equations that described the kinetic release behavior of endosulfan from red soil were parabola diffuse equation and double constant equation, and weren't the apparent first dynamics equation that represented the simple surface diffusion mechanism. The kinetic release behavior of endosulfan in tartrate or citrate leaching system can be described by Elovich equation (R2 > 0.99, p < 0.0001), it implied that the simple surface diffusion mechanism is not the primary factor that effected the release of endosulfan, which three-dimensional molecule structure is complex, from red soil in aqueous phase leaching systems, and it maybe related to the outward diffuse mechanism from soil particle, activation and deactivation function of soil particles surface, the dissolution of soil mineral surface and structure change of inherent organic matter that coating onto the soil mineral surface induced by LMW organic acid. It suggested that the tartrate and citrate induced the complication of the release mechanisms of the pesticides from red soil.

  7. Phosphorus leaching from loamy sand and clay loam topsoils after application of pig slurry.

    PubMed

    Liu, Jian; Aronsson, Helena; Bergström, Lars; Sharpley, Andrew

    2012-12-01

    Appropriate management of animal waste is essential for guaranteeing good water quality. A laboratory leaching study with intact soil columns was performed to investigate the risk of phosphorus (P) leaching from a clay loam and a loamy sand. The columns (0.2 m deep) were irrigated before and after application of pig slurry on the surface or after incorporation, or application of mineral P, each at a rate of 30 kg P ha(-1). The two soils had different initial P contents (i.e. the ammonium lactate-extractable P was 65 and 142 mg kg(-1) for the clay loam and loamy sand, respectively), but had similar P sorption characteristics (P sorption index 3.0) and degree of P saturation (17-21%). Concentrations of dissolved reactive P (DRP) and total P (TP) before P application were significantly higher in leachate from the loamy sand (TP 0.21 mg L(-1)) than from the clay loam (TP 0.13 mg L(-1)), but only increased significantly after P application to the clay loam. The highest concentrations were found when slurry was surface-applied (DRP 1.77 mg L(-1)), while incorporation decreased the DRP concentration by 64% in the clay loam. Thus moderate slurry application to a sandy soil with low P saturation did not pose a major risk of P leaching. However, application of P increased the risk of P leaching from the clay loam, irrespective of application method and despite low P saturation. The results show the importance of considering soil texture and structure in addition to soil chemical characteristics in risk assessments of P leaching. Structured soils such as the clay loam used in this study are high risk soils and application of P to bare soil during wet periods, e.g. in autumn or spring, should be followed by incorporation or avoided completely.

  8. GOLD ACRES BIOLOGICAL HEAP DETOXIFICATION

    EPA Science Inventory

    Many active mine sites, mines in closure stage and some abandoned mines are and have utilized cyanidation to remove and recover precious metals. Discharges from these sites normally contain significant amounts of metal cyanide complexes and concentrations of thiocyanate, soluble...

  9. Simulation of Bioleaching Heat Effects for Enhancement of Copper Recovery from Sarcheshmeh Chalcopyrite

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mahmoudian, Ali Reza; Sadrnezhaad, S. K.; Manafi, Zahra

    2014-08-01

    A heat-transfer model was formulated to determine the distribution of temperature within a bioheap of chalcopyrite of Sarcheshmeh copper mine. Bioleaching employs mixed mesophilic and thermophilic microbes for Cu extraction. Thermophiles are better than mesophiles to dissolve CuFeS2. The solution irrigation and aeration rates were taken into account as the main operational factors. The model was validated by comparing the temperature profiles of test columns with those of bioheap. The model was used to find the optimal ratio of irrigation to aeration. It was found that when the solution was fed at a flow rate of 5 kg/m2 h and air was blown at a flow rate of 7.5 kg/m2 h, the transition from a mesophilic to thermophilic state inside the heap was possible. In this situation, the maximum temperature rise inside the heap was about 332 K (59 °C) after 60 days.

  10. Generalized Symbolic Execution for Model Checking and Testing

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Khurshid, Sarfraz; Pasareanu, Corina; Visser, Willem; Kofmeyer, David (Technical Monitor)

    2003-01-01

    Modern software systems, which often are concurrent and manipulate complex data structures must be extremely reliable. We present a novel framework based on symbolic execution, for automated checking of such systems. We provide a two-fold generalization of traditional symbolic execution based approaches: one, we define a program instrumentation, which enables standard model checkers to perform symbolic execution; two, we give a novel symbolic execution algorithm that handles dynamically allocated structures (e.g., lists and trees), method preconditions (e.g., acyclicity of lists), data (e.g., integers and strings) and concurrency. The program instrumentation enables a model checker to automatically explore program heap configurations (using a systematic treatment of aliasing) and manipulate logical formulae on program data values (using a decision procedure). We illustrate two applications of our framework: checking correctness of multi-threaded programs that take inputs from unbounded domains with complex structure and generation of non-isomorphic test inputs that satisfy a testing criterion. Our implementation for Java uses the Java PathFinder model checker.

  11. Structural ceramics containing electric arc furnace dust.

    PubMed

    Stathopoulos, V N; Papandreou, A; Kanellopoulou, D; Stournaras, C J

    2013-11-15

    In the present work the stabilization of electric arc furnace dust EAFD waste in structural clay ceramics was investigated. EAFD was collected over eleven production days. The collected waste was characterized for its chemical composition by Flame Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy. By powder XRD the crystal structure was studied while the fineness of the material was determined by a laser particle size analyzer. The environmental characterization was carried out by testing the dust according to EN12457 standard. Zn, Pb and Cd were leaching from the sample in significant amounts. The objective of this study is to investigate the stabilization properties of EAFD/clay ceramic structures and the potential of EAFD utilization into structural ceramics production (blocks). Mixtures of clay with 2.5% and 5% EAFD content were studied by TG/DTA, XRD, SEM, EN12457 standard leaching and mechanical properties as a function of firing temperature at 850, 900 and 950 °C. All laboratory facilities maintained 20 ± 1 °C. Consequently, a pilot-scale experiment was conducted with an addition of 2.5% and 5% EAFD to the extrusion mixture for the production of blocks. During blocks manufacturing, the firing step reached 950 °C in a tunnel kiln. Laboratory heating/cooling gradients were similar to pilot scale production firing. The as produced blocks were then subjected to quality control tests, i.e. dimensions according to EN772-17, water absorbance according to EN772-6, and compressive strength according to EN772-1 standard, in laboratory facilities certified under EN17025. The data obtained showed that the incorporation of EAFD resulted in an increase of mechanical strength. Moreover, leaching tests performed according to the Europeans standards on the EAFD-block samples showed that the quantities of heavy metals leached from crushed blocks were within the regulatory limits. Thus the EAFD-blocks can be regarded as material of no environmental concern. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  12. Evaluating the biogas potential of the dry fraction from pretreatment of food waste from households

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Murto, Marika, E-mail: marika.murto@biotek.lu.se; Björnsson, Lovisa, E-mail: lovisa.bjornsson@miljo.lth.se; Environmental and Energy Systems Studies, Lund University, P.O. Box 118, SE-221 00 Lund

    2013-05-15

    Highlights: ► A novel approach for biogas production from a waste fraction that today is incinerated. ► Biogas production is possible in spite of the impurities of the waste. ► Tracer studies are applied in a novel way. ► Structural material is needed to improve the flow pattern of the waste. ► We provide a solution to biological treatment for the complex waste fraction. - Abstract: At the waste handling company NSR, Helsingborg, Sweden, the food waste fraction of source separated municipal solid waste is pretreated to obtain a liquid fraction, which is used for biogas production, and a drymore » fraction, which is at present incinerated. This pretreatment and separation is performed to remove impurities, however also some of the organic material is removed. The possibility of realising the methane potential of the dry fraction through batch-wise dry anaerobic digestion was investigated. The anaerobic digestion technique used was a two-stage process consisting of a static leach bed reactor and a methane reactor. Treatment of the dry fraction alone and in a mixture with structural material was tested to investigate the effect on the porosity of the leach bed. A tracer experiment was carried out to investigate the liquid flow through the leach beds, and this method proved useful in demonstrating a more homogenous flow through the leach bed when structural material was added. Addition of structural material to the dry fraction was needed to achieve a functional digestion process. A methane yield of 98 m{sup 3}/ton was obtained from the dry fraction mixed with structural material after 76 days of digestion. This was in the same range as obtained in the laboratory scale biochemical methane potential test, showing that it was possible to extract the organic content in the dry fraction in this type of dry digestion system for the production of methane.« less

  13. Tracing potential soil contamination in the historical Solvay soda ash plant area, Jaworzno, Southern Poland.

    PubMed

    Sutkowska, Katarzyna; Teper, Leslaw; Stania, Monika

    2015-11-01

    This study of soil conditions was carried out on 30 meadow soil (podzol) samples from the vicinity of the soda ash heap in Jaworzno, supplemented by analyses of 18 samples of waste deposited on the heap. In all samples, the total content of macroelements (Ca and Na) and heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Ni, Pb and Zn) as well as pH were analysed. The element concentrations were measured using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). The materials examined were neutral to ultra-alkaline. Total accumulations (mg kg(-1)) of chemical elements in the soil vary from 130.24 to 14076.67 for Ca, 41.40-926.23 for Na, 0.03-3.34 for Cd, 0.94-103.62 for Cr, 0.94-35.89 for Ni, 3.51-76.47 for Pb and 12.05-279.13 for Zn, whereas quantities of the same elements in the waste samples vary from 171705.13 to 360487.94 for Ca, 517.64-3152.82 for Na, 0.2-9.89 for Cd, 1.16-20.40 for Cr, 1.08-9.79 for Ni, 0.1-146.05 for Pb and 10.26-552.35 for Zn. The vertical distribution of the metals was determined in each soil profile. Despite enrichment of heavy metals in the uppermost horizon on the top of the heap, the results lead to the conclusion that the relation of historical production of soda ash in Jaworzno to current contamination of the local soil environment is insignificant.

  14. Occurrence and fractionation of Cr along the Loushan River affected by a chromium slag heap in East China.

    PubMed

    Chen, Youyuan; Dong, Bingbing; Xin, Jia

    2017-06-01

    This study investigated the chromium (Cr) occurrence and distribution along the Loushan River adjacent to a chromium slag heap. The speciation and chemical fractionation of Cr in different environmental media were determined. The potential ecological risks for the surrounding environment were assessed on the basis of both potential ecological risk index (RI) and risk assessment code (RAC). The results show that the surface soil experienced severe Cr contamination with Cr(T) and Cr(VI) values of 3220 ± 6266 and 64 ± 94 mg/kg, respectively, even though the chromium slag heap had already been removed. The chromium slag enhanced the Cr concentration level in the surface soil, water, and sediment samples more than the background level to different extents, which indicates that Cr released from the chromium slag actually affects the surrounding environment. The spatial distribution variety of Cr implies that their transport might have been affected by soil leaking, atmospheric transport, and fluvial hydraulics. The chemical fractionation results demonstrate that the residual fraction was the dominant form, accounting for 54.6 and 66.1% Cr(T) in surface soil and sediment samples, respectively. The content of bioavailable exchangeable Cr fraction correlated with the organic matter (OM), cation exchange capacity (CEC), and pH value. The ecological risk assessment suggests no considerable ecological risk toward the biota despite a relatively high Cr(T) level. Nevertheless, attention should be paid to the potential long-term risks owing to the slow release of oxidizable and residual fractions.

  15. Molecular identification and physiological characterization of yeasts, lactic acid bacteria and acetic acid bacteria isolated from heap and box cocoa bean fermentations in West Africa.

    PubMed

    Visintin, Simonetta; Alessandria, Valentina; Valente, Antonio; Dolci, Paola; Cocolin, Luca

    2016-01-04

    Yeast, lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and acetic acid bacteria (AAB) populations, isolated from cocoa bean heap and box fermentations in West Africa, have been investigated. The fermentation dynamicswere determined by viable counts, and 106 yeasts, 105 LAB and 82 AAB isolateswere identified by means of rep-PCR grouping and sequencing of the rRNA genes. During the box fermentations, the most abundant species were Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Candida ethanolica, Lactobacillus fermentum, Lactobacillus plantarum, Acetobacter pasteurianus and Acetobacter syzygii, while S. cerevisiae, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, Hanseniaspora guilliermondii, Pichia manshurica, C. ethanolica, Hanseniaspora uvarum, Lb. fermentum, Lb. plantarum, A. pasteurianus and Acetobacter lovaniensis were identified in the heap fermentations. Furthermore, the most abundant species were molecularly characterized by analyzing the rep-PCR profiles. Strains grouped according to the type of fermentations and their progression during the transformation process were also highlighted. The yeast, LAB and AAB isolates were physiologically characterized to determine their ability to grow at different temperatures, as well as at different pH, and ethanol concentrations, tolerance to osmotic stress, and lactic acid and acetic acid inhibition. Temperatures of 45 °C, a pH of 2.5 to 3.5, 12% (v/v) ethanol and high concentrations of lactic and acetic acid have a significant influence on the growth of yeasts, LAB and AAB. Finally, the yeastswere screened for enzymatic activity, and the S. cerevisiae, H. guilliermondii, H. uvarumand C. ethanolica species were shown to possess several enzymes that may impact the quality of the final product.

  16. Leaching of glyphosate and AMPA under two soil management practices in Burgundy vineyards (Vosne-Romanée, 21-France).

    PubMed

    Landry, David; Dousset, Sylvie; Fournier, Jean-Claude; Andreux, Francis

    2005-11-01

    Some drinking water reservoirs under the vineyards of Burgundy are contaminated with herbicides. Thus the effectiveness of alternative soil management practices, such as grass cover, for reducing the leaching of glyphosate and its metabolite, AMPA, through soils was studied. The leaching of both molecules was studied in structured soil columns under outdoor conditions for 1 year. The soil was managed under two vineyard soil practices: a chemically treated bare calcosol, and a vegetated calcosol. After 680 mm of rainfall, the vegetated calcosol leachates contained lower amounts of glyphosate and AMPA (0.02% and 0.03%, respectively) than the bare calcosol leachates (0.06% and 0.15%, respectively). No glyphosate and only low amounts of AMPA (<0.01%) were extracted from the soil. Glyphosate, and to a greater extent, AMPA, leach through the soils; thus, both molecules may be potential contaminants of groundwater. However, the alternative soil management practice of grass cover could reduce groundwater contamination by the pesticide.

  17. Atomic-scale identification of Pd leaching in nanoparticle catalyzed C–C coupling: Effects of particle surface disorder

    DOE PAGES

    Briggs, Beverly D.; Bedford, Nicholas M.; Seifert, Soenke; ...

    2015-07-23

    C–C coupling reactions are of great importance in the synthesis of numerous organic compounds, where Pd nanoparticle catalyzed systems represent new materials to efficiently drive these reactions. Despite their pervasive utility, the catalytic mechanism of these particle-based reactions remains highly contested. Herein we present evidence of an atom leaching mechanism for Stille coupling under aqueous conditions using peptide-capped Pd nanoparticles. EXAFS analysis revealed Pd coordination changes in the nanoparticle consistent with Pd atom abstraction, where sizing analysis by SAXS confirmed particle size changes associated with a leaching process. It is likely that recently discovered highly disordered surface Pd atoms aremore » the favored catalytic active sites and are leached during oxidative addition, resulting in smaller particles. Thus, probing the mechanism of nanoparticle-driven C–C coupling reactions through structural analyses provides fundamental information concerning these active sites and their reactivity at the atomic-scale, which can be used to improve catalytic performance to meet important sustainability goals.« less

  18. CYANIDE HEAP BILOGICAL DETOXIFICATION - PHASE II

    EPA Science Inventory

    Many active mine sites, mines in closure stage and some abandoned mines are and have utilized cyanidation to remove and recover precious metals. Discharges from these sites normally contain significant amounts of metal cyanide complexes and concentrations of thiocyanate, soluble...

  19. CYANIDE HEAP BIOLOGICAL DETOXIFICATION - PHASE II

    EPA Science Inventory

    Many active mine sites, mines in the closure stage and some abandoned mines are and have utilized cyanidation to remove and recover precious metals. Discharges from these sites normally contain significant amounts of metal cyanide complexes and concentrations of thiocyanate, solu...

  20. Mineralogy and Geochemical Processes of Carbonate Mineral-rich Sulfide Mine Tailings, Zimapan, Mexico

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    McClure, R. J.; Deng, Y.; Loeppert, R.; Herbert, B. E.; Carrillo, R.; Gonzalez, C.

    2009-12-01

    Mining for silver, lead, zinc, and copper in Zimapan, Hidalgo State, Mexico has been ongoing since 1576. High concentrations of heavy metals have been found in several mine tailing heaps in the Zimapan area, with concentrations of arsenic observed as high as 28,690 mg/kg and levels of Pb as high as 2772 mg/kg. Unsecured tailings heaps and associated acid mine drainage has presented tremendous problems to revegetation, water quality, and dust emission control in the Zimapan area. Although acid mine drainage problems related to weathering of sulfide minerals have been extensively studied and are well known, the weathering products of sulfides in areas with a significant presence of carbonate minerals and their effect on the mobility of heavy metals warrant further study. Carbonate minerals are expected to neutralize sulfuric acid produced from weathering of sulfide minerals, however, in the Zimapan area localized areas of pH as low as 1.8 were observed within carbonate mineral-rich tailing heaps. The objectives of this study are to characterize (1) the heavy metal-containing sulfide minerals in the initial tailing materials, (2) the intermediate oxidation products of sulfide minerals within the carbonate-rich tailings, (3) chemical species of heavy metals within pH gradients between 1.8 and 8.2, the approximate natural pH of limestone, and (4) the mobility of soluble and colloidal heavy metals and arsenic within the carbonate-rich tailings. Representative mine tailings and their intermediate oxidation products have been sampled from the Zimapan area. Mineralogical characterization will be conducted with X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy, electron microscopes and microprobes, and chemical methods. Chemical species will be extracted by selective dissolution methods. Preliminary results have identified calcite as the dominant mineral in the tailing heaps with a pH of 7, suggesting non-equilibrium with the acidic weathering products. Other minerals identified in the tailings include gypsum, quartz, pyrite, mica, talc, amphiboles, and feldspars. Oxidation products identified include copiapite as well as various iron oxides. Future results are expected to reveal most of the heavy metals to be adsorbed by or coprecipitate with iron oxides, with most of the oxidized arsenic staying in the soluble form. The mobility of the colloidal form of the oxides and associated heavy metals within the carbonate mineral-rich tailings need additional study.

  1. Long-term Effects of Organic Waste Fertilizers on Soil Structure, Tracer Transport, and Leaching of Colloids.

    PubMed

    Lekfeldt, Jonas Duus Stevens; Kjaergaard, Charlotte; Magid, Jakob

    2017-07-01

    Organic waste fertilizers have previously been observed to significantly affect soil organic carbon (SOC) content and soil structure. However, the effect of organic waste fertilizers on colloid dispersibility and leaching of colloids from topsoil has not yet been studied extensively. We investigated how the repeated application of different types of agricultural (liquid cattle slurry and solid cattle manure) and urban waste fertilizers (sewage sludge and composted organic household waste) affected soil physical properties, colloid dispersion from aggregates, tracer transport, and colloid leaching from intact soil cores. Total porosity was positively correlated with SOC content. Yearly applications of sewage sludge increased absolute microporosity (pores <30 μm) and decreased relative macroporosity (pores >30 μm) compared with the unfertilized control, whereas organic household waste compost fertilization increased both total porosity and the absolute porosity in all pore size classes (though not significant for 100-600 μm). Treatments receiving large amounts of organic fertilizers exhibited significantly lower levels of dispersible colloids compared with an unfertilized control and a treatment that had received moderate applications of cattle slurry. The content of water-dispersible colloids could not be explained by a single factor, but differences in SOC content, electrical conductivity, and sodium adsorption ratio were important factors. Moreover, we found that the fertilizer treatments did not significantly affect the solute transport properties of the topsoil. Finally, we found that the leaching of soil colloids was significantly decreased in treatments that had received large amounts of organic waste fertilizers, and we ascribe this primarily to treatment-induced differences in effluent electrical conductivity during leaching. Copyright © by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, Inc.

  2. [Leaching characteristics of heavy metals and utilization of filter media in BAF].

    PubMed

    Zou, Jin-long; Dai, Ying

    2007-10-01

    A series of leaching tests were conducted to study the solidification of heavy metals in biological filter media made with dried sludge as an additive. The maximum leaching contents of Cd, Cr, Cu and Pb are obtained when pH is 1; leaching contents of heavy metals have an obvious decrease as pH is greater than or equal to 3; and it can be concluded from the results that pH has a significant influence on the leaching characteristic of heavy metals at leaching time of either 24 h or 30 d. X-ray diffraction analysis performed on filter media reveal the main compounds of the 4 heavy metals are Pb2O(CrO4), CdSiO3 and CuO, and the heavy metals are solidified in the mesh structure of Si--O. Heavy metals (such as Cd, Cr, Cu and Pb) can be solidified in filter media through a series of crystalline phase changes and chemical reaction after high temperature sintering. The new filter media (obtained in test) were used in biological aerated filter (BAF) to treat wastewater (C/N about 11.5 and 25.5) in a simultaneous nitrification and denitrification (SND) system. Based on the mechanism of SND, the average removal efficienciesof NH4(+)-N and TN filled with the new filter media (obtained in test) are about 85.5%, 90.3%, 46.6% and 49.6%, respectively, and it is higher than those of other 3 medias (Jiangxi ceramsite, Guangzhou ceramsite and Shanxi activated carbon). The results provide a better understanding of factors that may affect the immobilization and leaching characteristics of heavy metals in ceramsite, which promotes the extensive use of filter media in BAF.

  3. Bubbles and Dust: Dissolution Rates of Unhydrated Volcanic Ash as a Function of Morphology, Composition, and Particle Size

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wygel, C. M.; Sahagian, D. L.

    2017-12-01

    Volcanic eruptions are natural hazards due to their explosive nature and widespread transportation and deposition of ash particles. After deposition and subsequent leaching in soils or water bodies, ash deposition positively (nutrients) and negatively (contaminants) impacts the health of flora and fauna, including humans. The effects of ash leachates have been difficult to replicate in field and laboratory studies due to the many complexities and differences between ash particles. Ash morphology is characteristic for each eruption, dependent upon eruption energy, and should play a critical role in determining leaching rates. Morphology reflects overall particle surface area, which is strongly influenced by the presence of surface dust. In addition, ash composition, which in part controls morphology and particle size, may also affect leaching rates. This study determines the extent to which ash morphology, surface area, composition, and particle size control ash dissolution rates. Further, it is necessary to determine whether compound vesicular ash particles permit water into their interior structures to understand if both the internal and external surface areas are available for leaching. To address this, six fresh, unhydrated ash samples from diverse volcanic environments and a large range in morphology, from Pele's spheres to vesicular compound ash, are tested in the laboratory. Ash morphology was characterized on the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) before and after leaching and surface area was quantified by Brunauer Emmett Teller (BET) analysis and with geometric calculations. Column Leachate Tests (CLT) were conducted to compare leaching rates over a range of basaltic to silicic ashes as a function of time and surface area, to recreate the effects of ash deposition in diverse volcanic environments. After the CLT, post-leaching water analyses were conducted by Ion Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) and Ion Chromatography (IC). We find that leaching rates are correlated to characteristic surface area of ash particles.

  4. Effect of Multiple Freezing/Thawing Cycles on the Structural and Functional Properties of Waxy Rice Starch

    PubMed Central

    Tao, Han; Yan, Juan; Zhao, Jianwei; Tian, Yaoqi; Jin, Zhengyu; Xu, Xueming

    2015-01-01

    The structural and functional properties of non-gelatinized waxy rice starch were investigated after 1, 3, 7, and 10 freezing/thawing cycles. Freezing caused an increasing damaged starch from 1.36% in native waxy rice starch to 5.77% in 10 freezing/thawing-treated starch (FTS), as evidenced by the cracking surface on starch granules. More dry matter concentration was leached, which was characterized by high amylopectin concentration (4.34 mg/mL). The leaching was accompanied by a decrease in relative crystallinity from 35.19% in native starch to 31.34% in 10 FTS. Freezing treatment also led to significant deviations in the functional characteristics, for instance decreased gelatinization temperature range, enthalpy, and pasting viscosities. The resistant starch content of 10FTS significantly decreased from 58.9% to 19%, whereas the slowly digested starch content greatly increased from 23.8% in native starch to 50.3%. The increase in susceptibility to enzyme hydrolysis may be attributed to porous granular surface, amylopectin leaching, and the decrease in the relative crystallinity caused by freezing water. PMID:26018506

  5. Ecological plasticity of Trichoderma fungi in leached chernozem

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Svistova, I. D.; Senchakova, T. Yu.

    2010-03-01

    The autecological properties of Trichoderma fungi ecotypes isolated from the leached chernozem of the forest-steppe zone of the European part of Russia have been studied. We were the first who carried out the complex study of the synecological relations of micromycetes of such kinds in a system including the soil, microbial community, and plants, i.e., their relations with soil saprotrophic fungi, bacteria, actinomycetes, plants, and pathogenic fungi. It was shown that the ecological plasticity of the Trichoderma genus in the soil of this zone is determined by its growth rate, the optimum pH and temperature, the biosynthesis of extracellular hydrolytic enzymes, the biological action of mycotoxins, and the ability for parasitism. The efficiency of the introduction of Trichoderma species typical and atypical for the leached chernozem into this soil and their influence on the structure of the microbial community were evaluated. The T. pseudokoningii ecotype, which produces cellulolytic enzymes, is very promising for industrial biotechnology, and the T. harzianum ecotype can be used in soil biotechnology for the biocontrol of chernozem. The addition of a commercial trichodermin preparation into the chernozem damages the structure of its microbial community.

  6. Effect of multiple freezing/thawing cycles on the structural and functional properties of waxy rice starch.

    PubMed

    Tao, Han; Yan, Juan; Zhao, Jianwei; Tian, Yaoqi; Jin, Zhengyu; Xu, Xueming

    2015-01-01

    The structural and functional properties of non-gelatinized waxy rice starch were investigated after 1, 3, 7, and 10 freezing/thawing cycles. Freezing caused an increasing damaged starch from 1.36% in native waxy rice starch to 5.77% in 10 freezing/thawing-treated starch (FTS), as evidenced by the cracking surface on starch granules. More dry matter concentration was leached, which was characterized by high amylopectin concentration (4.34 mg/mL). The leaching was accompanied by a decrease in relative crystallinity from 35.19% in native starch to 31.34% in 10 FTS. Freezing treatment also led to significant deviations in the functional characteristics, for instance decreased gelatinization temperature range, enthalpy, and pasting viscosities. The resistant starch content of 10FTS significantly decreased from 58.9% to 19%, whereas the slowly digested starch content greatly increased from 23.8% in native starch to 50.3%. The increase in susceptibility to enzyme hydrolysis may be attributed to porous granular surface, amylopectin leaching, and the decrease in the relative crystallinity caused by freezing water.

  7. Sawmill "Waste"

    Treesearch

    Fred C. Simmons; Adna R. Bond

    1955-01-01

    Sawmills have the reputation of being very wasteful in converting logs and bolts into lumber and timbers. Almost everyone has seen the great heaps of sawdust and slabs that collect at sawmills. Frequently the question is asked, "Why doesn't somebody do something about this terrible waste of wood?"

  8. The Kaye effect

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Binder, J. M.; Landig, A. J.

    2009-11-01

    The International Young Physicists' Tournament (IYPT) is a worldwide, annual competition for secondary school students. This is our solution to problem number 10, The Kaye effect, as presented in the final round of the 21st IYPT in Trogir, Croatia. The Kaye effect occurs when a thin stream of shampoo or a different adequate non-Newtonian liquid is poured onto a surface. Suddenly, a jet leaves the heap that is formed by the shampoo and begins to 'dance' around the primary jet like a lasso. The phenomenon ends when the 'dancing' jet hits the primary jet and subsequently collapses. We started our investigations based on available literature (Kaye 1963 Nature 197 1001, Versluis et al 2006 J. Stat. Mech., Collyer and Fischer 1976 Nature 261 682). We made experiments with a similar experimental set-up in which we could determine the velocities of both shampoo streams as well as the angle of the 'dancing' stream. From there on, we developed a theoretical model for the energy loss of the jet in the heap. We discovered that the air layer between the jet and the heap is a necessity for the Kaye effect to occur. At this point, our observations differ from the aforementioned literature. This also accounts for the shampoo beam acting as a light guide. Further experiments concerning the viscoelasticity of the shampoo revealed that the elastic property of the shampoo is necessary for the effect to occur. This article is a written version of the oral contribution of the German team to the 21st IYPT competition, which was awarded first prize by an international jury. The article has been edited by European Journal of Physics.

  9. Dynamics and Biodiversity of Populations of Lactic Acid Bacteria and Acetic Acid Bacteria Involved in Spontaneous Heap Fermentation of Cocoa Beans in Ghana▿

    PubMed Central

    Camu, Nicholas; De Winter, Tom; Verbrugghe, Kristof; Cleenwerck, Ilse; Vandamme, Peter; Takrama, Jemmy S.; Vancanneyt, Marc; De Vuyst, Luc

    2007-01-01

    The Ghanaian cocoa bean heap fermentation process was studied through a multiphasic approach, encompassing both microbiological and metabolite target analyses. A culture-dependent (plating and incubation, followed by repetitive-sequence-based PCR analyses of picked-up colonies) and culture-independent (denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis [DGGE] of 16S rRNA gene amplicons, PCR-DGGE) approach revealed a limited biodiversity and targeted population dynamics of both lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and acetic acid bacteria (AAB) during fermentation. Four main clusters were identified among the LAB isolated: Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus fermentum, Leuconostoc pseudomesenteroides, and Enterococcus casseliflavus. Other taxa encompassed, for instance, Weissella. Only four clusters were found among the AAB identified: Acetobacter pasteurianus, Acetobacter syzygii-like bacteria, and two small clusters of Acetobacter tropicalis-like bacteria. Particular strains of L. plantarum, L. fermentum, and A. pasteurianus, originating from the environment, were well adapted to the environmental conditions prevailing during Ghanaian cocoa bean heap fermentation and apparently played a significant role in the cocoa bean fermentation process. Yeasts produced ethanol from sugars, and LAB produced lactic acid, acetic acid, ethanol, and mannitol from sugars and/or citrate. Whereas L. plantarum strains were abundant in the beginning of the fermentation, L. fermentum strains converted fructose into mannitol upon prolonged fermentation. A. pasteurianus grew on ethanol, mannitol, and lactate and converted ethanol into acetic acid. A newly proposed Weissella sp., referred to as “Weissella ghanaensis,” was detected through PCR-DGGE analysis in some of the fermentations and was only occasionally picked up through culture-based isolation. Two new species of Acetobacter were found as well, namely, the species tentatively named “Acetobacter senegalensis” (A. tropicalis-like) and “Acetobacter ghanaensis” (A. syzygii-like). PMID:17277227

  10. Influence of surface flattening on biodiversity of terrestrial arthropods during early stages of brown coal spoil heap restoration.

    PubMed

    Moradi, Jabbar; Potocký, Pavel; Kočárek, Petr; Bartuška, Martin; Tajovský, Karel; Tichánek, Filip; Frouz, Jan; Tropek, Robert

    2018-08-15

    Heterogeneity of environmental conditions is the crucial factor supporting biodiversity in various habitats, including post-mining sites. The effects of micro-topographic heterogeneity on biodiversity and conservation potential of arthropod communities in post-industrial habitats had not been studied before now. At one of the largest European brown coal spoil heaps, we sampled eight groups of terrestrial arthropods with different life strategies (moths, spiders, ground beetles, ants, orthopteroids, centipedes, millipedes, and woodlice), in successionally young plots (5-18 y), with a heterogeneous wavy surface after heaping, and compared the communities with plots flattened by dozing. A combination of the standardized quantitative sampling, using two different methods, and a paired design of the plot selection enabled a robust analysis. Altogether, we recorded 380 species of the focal arthropods, 15 of them nationally threatened. We revealed the importance of the micro-topographic heterogeneity for the formation of the biodiversity of arthropods in their secondary refuges. The communities with higher biodiversity and conservation value were detected in the plots with heterogeneous surfaces; exceptions were ground beetles and millipedes. The surface flattening, often the first step of technical reclamation projects, thus suppress biodiversity of most terrestrial arthropods during the restoration of post-mining sites. Since the communities of both surface types differed, the proportional presence on both surfaces could be more efficient in supporting the local biodiversity. We suggest reducing the surface dozing for the cases with other concerns only, to achieve a proportional representation of both surface types. Such a combination of different restoration approaches would, thus, efficiently support high biodiversity of groups with various needs. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. A universal laboratory method for determining physical parameters of radon migration in dry granulated porous media.

    PubMed

    Ye, Yong-Jun; Zhang, Yun-Feng; Dai, Xin-Tao; Ding, De-Xin

    2017-10-01

    The particle size and heaped methods of exhalation media have important effects on physical parameters, such as the free radon production rate, porosity, permeability, and radon diffusion coefficient. However, existing methods for determining those parameters are too complex, and time-consuming. In this study, a novel, systematic determining method was proposed based on nuclide decay, radon diffusion migration theory, and the mass conservation law, and an associated experimental device was designed and manufactured. The parameters of uranium ore heap and sandy soil of radon diffusion coefficient (D), free radon production rate (α), media permeability (k), and porosity (ε) were obtained. At the same time, the practicality of the novel determining method was improved over other methods, with the results showing that accuracy was within the acceptable range of experimental error. This novel method will be of significance for the study of radon migration and exhalation in granulated porous media. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Effect of heavy metals on soil enzyme activity at different field conditions in Middle Spis mining area (Slovakia).

    PubMed

    Angelovičová, Lenka; Lodenius, Martin; Tulisalo, Esa; Fazekašová, Danica

    2014-12-01

    Heavy metals concentrations were measured in the former mining area located in Hornad river valley (Slovakia). Soil samples were taken in 2012 from 20 sites at two field types (grasslands, heaps of waste material) and two different areas. Total content of heavy metals (Cu, Pb, Zn, Hg), urease (URE), acid phosphatase (ACP), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), soil reaction (pH) were changing depending on the field/area type. The tailing pond and processing plants have been found as the biggest sources of pollution. URE, ACP and ALP activities significantly decreased while the heavy metal contents increased. Significant differences were found among area types in the heavy metal contents and activity of URE. No statistical differences in the content of heavy metals but significant statistical differences for soil pH were found for field types (grassland and heaps). Significant negative correlation was found for URE-Pb, URE-Zn and also between soil reaction and ACP and ALP.

  13. The Kaye effect revisited: High speed imaging of leaping shampoo

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Versluis, Michel; Blom, Cock; van der Meer, Devaraj; van der Weele, Ko; Lohse, Detlef

    2003-11-01

    When a visco-elastic fluid such as shampoo or shower gel is poured onto a flat surface the fluid piles up forming a heap on which rather irregular combinations of fluid buckling, coiling and folding are observed. Under specific conditions a string of fluid leaps from the heap and forms a steady jet fed by the incoming stream. Momentum transfer of the incoming jet, combined with the shear-thinning properties of the fluid, lead to a spoon-like dimple in the highly viscous fluid pool in which the jet recoils. The jet can be stable for several seconds. This effect is known as the Kaye effect. In order to reveal its mechanism we analyzed leaping shampoo through high-speed imaging. We studied the jet formation, jet stability and jet disruption mechanisms. We measured the velocity of both the incoming and recoiled jet, which was found to be thicker and slower. By inclining the surface on which the fluid was poured we observed jets leaping at upto five times.

  14. Investigation of hair dye deposition, hair color loss, and hair damage during multiple oxidative dyeing and shampooing cycles.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Guojin; McMullen, Roger L; Kulcsar, Lidia

    2016-01-01

    Color fastness is a major concern for consumers and manufacturers of oxidative hair dye products. Hair dye loss results from multiple wash cycles in which the hair dye is dissolved by water and leaches from the hair shaft. In this study, we carried out a series of measurements to help us better understand the kinetics of the leaching process and pathways associated with its escape from the fiber. Hair dye leaching kinetics was measured by suspending hair in a dissolution apparatus and monitoring the dye concentration in solution (leached dye) with an ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometer. The physical state of dye deposited in hair fibers was evaluated by a reflectance light microscopy technique, based on image stacking, allowing enhanced depth of field imaging. The dye distribution within the fiber was monitored by infrared spectroscopic imaging of hair fiber cross sections. Damage to the ultrafine structure of the hair cuticle (surface, endocuticle, and cell membrane complex) and cortex (cell membrane complex) was determined in hair cross sections and on the hair fiber surface with atomic force microscopy. Using differential scanning calorimetry, we investigated how consecutive coloring and leaching processes affect the internal proteins of hair. Further, to probe the surface properties of hair we utilized contact angle measurements. This study was conducted on both pigmented and nonpigmented hair to gain insight into the influence of melanin on the hair dye deposition and leaching processes. Both types of hair were colored utilizing a commercial oxidative hair dye product based on pyrazole chemistry.

  15. Cadmium telluride leaching behavior: Discussion of Zeng et al. (2015).

    PubMed

    Sinha, Parikhit

    2015-11-01

    Zeng et al. (2015) evaluate the leaching behavior and surface chemistry of II-VI semiconductor materials, CdTe and CdSe, in response to pH and O2. Under agitation in acidic and aerobic conditions, the authors found approximately 3.6%-6.4% (w/w) solubility of Cd content in CdTe in the Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP), Waste Extraction Test (WET), and dissolution test, with lower solubility (0.56-0.58%) under agitation in acidic and anoxic conditions. This range is comparable with prior long-term transformation and dissolution testing and bio-elution testing of CdTe (2.3%-4.1% w/w solubility of Cd content in CdTe). The implications for potential leaching behavior of CdTe-containing devices require further data. Since CdTe PV modules contain approximately 0.05% Cd content by mass, the starting Cd content in the evaluation of CdTe-containing devices would be lower by three orders of magnitude than the starting Cd content in the authors' study, and leaching potential would be further limited by the monolithic glass-adhesive laminate-glass structure of the device that encapsulates the semiconductor material. Experimental evaluation of leaching potential of CdTe PV modules crushed by landfill compactor has been conducted, with results of TCLP and WET tests on the crushed material below regulatory limits for Cd. CdTe PV recycling technology has been in commercial operation since 2005 with high yields for semiconductor (95%) and glass (90%) recovery. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. A new method for recovery of cellulose from lignocellulosic bio-waste: Pile processing.

    PubMed

    Tezcan, Erdem; Atıcı, Oya Galioğlu

    2017-12-01

    This paper presents a new delignification method (pile processing) for the recovery of cellulose from lignocellulosic bio-wastes, adapted from heap leaching technology in metallurgy. The method is based on the stacking of cellulosic materials in a pile, irrigation of the pile with aqueous reactive solution from the top, lignin and hemicellulose removal and enrichment of cellulose by the reactive solution while percolation occurs through the bottom of the pile, recirculating the reactive solution after adjusting several values such as chemical concentrations, and allow the system run until the desired time or cellulose purity. Laboratory scale systems were designed using fall leaves (FL) as lignocellulosic waste materials. The ideal condition for FL was noted as: 0.1g solid NaOH addition per gram of FL into the irrigating solution resulting in instant increase in pH to about 13.8, later allowing self-decrease in pH due to delignification over time down to 13.0, at which point another solid NaOH addition was performed. The new method achieved enrichment of cellulose from 30% to 81% and removal of 84% of the lignin that prevents industrial application of lignocellulosic bio-waste using total of 0.3g NaOH and 4ml of water per gram of FL at environmental temperature and pressure. While the stirring reactions used instead of pile processing required the same amount of NaOH, they needed at least 12ml of water and delignification was only 56.1%. Due to its high delignification performance using common and odorless chemicals and simple equipment in mild conditions, the pile processing method has great promise for the industrial evaluation of lignocellulosic bio-waste. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Vessel network detection using contour evolution and color components

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Ushizima, Daniela; Medeiros, Fatima; Cuadros, Jorge

    2011-06-22

    Automated retinal screening relies on vasculature segmentation before the identification of other anatomical structures of the retina. Vasculature extraction can also be input to image quality ranking, neovascularization detection and image registration, among other applications. There is an extensive literature related to this problem, often excluding the inherent heterogeneity of ophthalmic clinical images. The contribution of this paper relies on an algorithm using front propagation to segment the vessel network. The algorithm includes a penalty in the wait queue on the fast marching heap to minimize leakage of the evolving interface. The method requires no manual labeling, a minimum numbermore » of parameters and it is capable of segmenting color ocular fundus images in real scenarios, where multi-ethnicity and brightness variations are parts of the problem.« less

  18. Mineralogical basis for the interpretation of multi-element (ICP-AES), oxalic acid, and aqua regia partial digestions of stream sediments for reconnaissance exploration geochemistry

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Church, S.E.; Mosier, E.L.; Motooka, J.M.

    1987-01-01

    We have applied partial digestion procedures, primarily oxalic acid and aqua regia leaches, to several regional geochemical reconnaissance studies carried out using Inductively Coupled Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES) analytical methods. We have chosen to use these two acids because the oxalic acid primarily attacks those compounds formed during secondary geochemical processes, whereas aqua regia will digest the primary sulfide phases as well as secondary phases. Application of the partial digestion technique has proven superior to total digestion because the concentration of metals in hydromorphic compounds and the sulfides is enhanced relative to the metals bound in the unattacked silicate phases. The aqua regia digestion attacks and leaches metals from the mafic chain silicates and the phyllosilicates (coordination number of VI or more), yielding a characteristic geochemical signature, but does not leach appreciable metal from many other silicates. In order to interpret the results from these leach studies, we have initiated an investigation of a large suite of hand-picked mineral separates. The study includes analyses of about two hundred minerals representing the common rock-forming minerals as well as end-member compositions of various silicates, oxides, sulfides, carbonates, sulfates, and some vanadates, molybdates, tungstates, and phosphates. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of leaching by acids of particular lattice sites in specific mineral structures. ?? 1987.

  19. Stabilization of heavy metals in sludge ceramsite.

    PubMed

    Xu, G R; Zou, J L; Li, G B

    2010-05-01

    This paper attempts to investigate the stabilization behaviours of heavy metals in ceramsite made from wastewater treatment sludge (WWTS) and drinking-water treatment sludge (DWTS). Leaching tests were conducted to find out the effects of sintering temperature, (Fe(2)O(3) + CaO + MgO)/(SiO(2) + Al(2)O(3)) (defined as F/SA ratios), pH, and oxidative condition. Results show that sintering exhibits good binding capacity for Cd, Cr, Cu, and Pb in ceramsite and leaching contents of heavy metals will not change above 1000 degrees C. The main crystalline phases in ceramsite sintered at 1000 degrees C are kyanite, quartz, Na-Ca feldspars, sillimanite, and enstatite. The main compounds of heavy metals are crocoite, chrome oxide, cadmium silicate, and copper oxide. Leaching contents of Cd, Cu, and Pb increase as the F/SA ratios increase. Heavy metals in ceramsite with variation of F/SA ratios are also in same steady forms, which prove that stronger chemical bonds are formed between these heavy metals and the components. Leaching contents of heavy metals decrease as pH increases and increase as H(2)O(2) concentration increases. The results indicate that when subjected to rigorous leaching conditions, the crystalline structures still exhibit good chemical binding capacity for heavy metals. In conclusion, it is environmentally safe to use ceramsite in civil and construction fields. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. A comparative study on the characteristics of radioactivities and negative air ions originating from the minerals in some radon hot springs.

    PubMed

    Sakoda, Akihiro; Hanamoto, Katsumi; Haruki, Naoto; Nagamatsu, Tomohiro; Yamaoka, Kiyonori

    2007-01-01

    To elucidate the characteristics of some radon hot springs, we simulated a hot spring by soaking the rocks for the radon therapy in water and measured the concentrations of radon and negative air ions in various conditions. In the results, the individual rock structure could contribute to radon leaching because the radon leaching rates were independent of the grain sizes. More negative air ions were generated by the wet rocks than by the dry rocks.

  1. Changes in the quality of chromophoric dissolved organic matter leached from senescent leaf litter during the early decomposition.

    PubMed

    Nishimura, Satoshi; Maie, Nagamitsu; Baba, Mitsuhisa; Sudo, Takahiro; Sugiura, Toshihiro; Shima, Eikichi

    2012-01-01

    Chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) leached from leaf litter is a major source of humus in mineral soil of forest ecosystems. While their functions and refractoriness depend on the physicochemical structure, there is little information on the quality of CDOM, especially for that leached in the very early stages of litter decomposition when a large amount of dissolved organic matter (DOM) is leached. This study aimed to better understand the variations/changes in the composition of CDOM leached from senescent leaf litter from two tree species during the early stage of decomposition. Leaf litter from a conifer tree (Japanese cedar, D. Don) and a deciduous broad-leaved tree (Konara oak, Thunb.) were incubated in columns using simulated rainfall events periodically for a total of 300 d at 20°C. The quality of CDOM was investigated based on the fluorescence properties by using a combination of excitation-emission matrix fluorescence (EEM) and parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC). In addition, the phenolic composition of DOM was investigated at a molecular level by thermally assisted hydrolysis and methylation-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (THM-GC-MS) in the presence of tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH). The EEM was statistically decomposed into eight fluorescence components (two tannin/peptide-like peaks, one protein-like peak, and five humic-like peaks). A significant contribution of tannin/peptide-like peaks was observed at the beginning of incubation, but these peaks decreased quickly and humic-like peaks increased within 1 mo of incubation. The composition of humic-like peaks was different between tree species and changed over the incubation period. Since tannin-derived phenolic compounds were detected in the DOM collected after 254 d of incubation on THM-GC-MS, it was suggested that tannins partially changed its structure, forming various humic-like peaks during the early decomposition. Copyright © by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, Inc.

  2. Promoting Health Literacy through the Health Education Assessment Project

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Marx, Eva; Hudson, Nancy; Deal, Tami B.; Pateman, Beth; Middleton, Kathleen

    2007-01-01

    Background: The Council of Chief State School Officers' State Collaborative on Assessment and Student Standards Health Education Assessment Project (SCASS-HEAP) allows states to pool financial and human resources to develop effective ready-to-use health education assessment resources through a collaborative process. The purpose of this article is…

  3. Determination of the mode of occurrence of As, Cr, and Hg in three Chinese coal samples by sequential acid leaching

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Wang, B.; Li, W.; Wang, G.

    2007-07-01

    Sequential acid leaching was used to leach minerals and the trace elements they contain. One-step leaching uses concentrated nitric acid as solvent, while three-step leaching uses 5M hydrochloric acid, concentrated hydrofluoric acid, and concentrated hydrochloric acid as solvents. The sequential acid leaching by three-and one-step leach was also examined. The results showed that one-step leaching could leach over 80% of arsenic from coal samples, and also could leach mercury to a certain degree. During one-step leaching, little chromium is removed, but it is available to leach by three-step leaching; and during the sequential acid leaching by three and one-step leaching,more » almost 98% ash is leached. The result of acid leaching could also give detailed information on mode of occurrence of As, Cr, and Hg, which could be classified into: silicate association, pyrite association, organic association, and carbonates and sulfates association. Over half of chromium in the three coals is associated with organic matters and the rest is associated with silicates. The mode of occurrence of arsenic and mercury is mainly associated with different mineral matters depending on the coal samples studied.« less

  4. Column bioleaching of uranium embedded in granite porphyry by a mesophilic acidophilic consortium.

    PubMed

    Qiu, Guanzhou; Li, Qian; Yu, Runlan; Sun, Zhanxue; Liu, Yajie; Chen, Miao; Yin, Huaqun; Zhang, Yage; Liang, Yili; Xu, Lingling; Sun, Limin; Liu, Xueduan

    2011-04-01

    A mesophilic acidophilic consortium was enriched from acid mine drainage samples collected from several uranium mines in China. The performance of the consortium in column bioleaching of low-grade uranium embedded in granite porphyry was investigated. The influences of several chemical parameters on uranium extraction in column reactor were also investigated. A uranium recovery of 96.82% was achieved in 97 days column leaching process including 33 days acid pre-leaching stage and 64 days bioleaching stage. It was reflected that indirect leaching mechanism took precedence over direct. Furthermore, the bacterial community structure was analyzed by using Amplified Ribosomal DNA Restriction Analysis. The results showed that microorganisms on the residual surface were more diverse than that in the solution. Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans was the dominant species in the solution and Leptospirillum ferriphilum on the residual surface. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. Vanadium Extraction from Shale via Sulfuric Acid Baking and Leaching

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shi, Qihua; Zhang, Yimin; Liu, Tao; Huang, Jing

    2018-01-01

    Fluorides are widely used to improve vanadium extraction from shale in China. Sulfuric acid baking-leaching (SABL) was investigated as a means of recovering vanadium which does not require the use of fluorides and avoids the productions of harmful fluoride-containing wastewater. Various effective factors were systematically studied and the experimental results showed that 90.1% vanadium could be leached from the shale. On the basis of phase transformations and structural changes after baking the shale, a mechanism of vanadium extraction from shale via SABL was proposed. The mechanism can be described as: (1) sulfuric acid diffusion into particles; (2) the formation of concentrated sulfuric acid media in the particles after water evaporation; (3) hydroxyl groups in the muscovite were removed and transient state [SO4 2-] was generated; and (4) the metals in the muscovite were sulfated by active [SO4 2-] and the vanadium was released. Thermodynamics modeling confirmed this mechanism.

  6. Cementitious Barriers Partnership - FY2015 End-Year Report

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Burns, H. H.; Flach, G. P.; Langton, C. A.

    2015-09-17

    The DOE-EM Office of Tank Waste Management Cementitious Barriers Partnership (CBP) is chartered with providing the technical basis for implementing cement-based waste forms and radioactive waste containment structures for long-term disposal. Therefore, the CBP ultimate purpose is to support progress in final treatment and disposal of legacy waste and closure of High-Level Waste (HLW) tanks in the DOE complex. This status report highlights the CBP 2015 Software and Experimental Program efforts and accomplishments that support DOE needs in environmental cleanup and waste disposal. DOE needs in this area include: Long-term performance predictions to provide credibility (i.e., a defensible technical basis)more » for regulator and DOE review and approvals, Facility flow sheet development/enhancements, and Conceptual designs for new disposal facilities. In 2015, the CBP developed a beta release of the CBP Software Toolbox – “Version 3.0”, which includes new STADIUM carbonation and damage models, a new SRNL module for estimating hydraulic properties and flow in fractured and intact cementitious materials, and a new LeachXS/ORCHESTRA (LXO) oxidation module. In addition, the STADIUM sulfate attack and chloride models have been improved as well as the LXO modules for sulfate attack, carbonation, constituent leaching, and percolation with radial diffusion (for leaching and transport in cracked cementitious materials). These STADIUM and LXO models are applicable to and can be used by both DOE and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) end-users for service life prediction and long-term leaching evaluations of radioactive waste containment structures across the DOE complex.« less

  7. Using mixture design of experiments to assess the environmental impact of clay-based structural ceramics containing foundry wastes.

    PubMed

    Coronado, M; Segadães, A M; Andrés, A

    2015-12-15

    This work describes the leaching behavior of potentially hazardous metals from three different clay-based industrial ceramic products (wall bricks, roof tiles, and face bricks) containing foundry sand dust and Waelz slag as alternative raw materials. For each product, ten mixtures were defined by mixture design of experiments and the leaching of As, Ba, Cd, Cr, Cu, Mo, Ni, Pb, and Zn was evaluated in pressed specimens fired simulating the three industrial ceramic processes. The results showed that, despite the chemical, mineralogical and processing differences, only chrome and molybdenum were not fully immobilized during ceramic processing. Their leaching was modeled as polynomial equations, functions of the raw materials contents, and plotted as response surfaces. This brought to evidence that Cr and Mo leaching from the fired products is not only dependent on the corresponding contents and the basicity of the initial mixtures, but is also clearly related with the mineralogical composition of the fired products, namely the amount of the glassy phase, which depends on both the major oxides contents and the firing temperature. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  8. The study of heavy metals leaching from waste foundry sands using a one-step extraction

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bożym, Marta

    2017-10-01

    There are a number of leaching test which are used to evaluate the effect of foundry waste disposal on the environment (TCLP, SPLP, ASTM at al.). Because the spent foundry sand are usually deposited at the ground level and they have a similar structure to the soil, survey mobility of metals using the same methods seems appropriate. One-step extraction allows for the evaluation of the mobility and bioavailability of metals in soil and waste. Waste foundry sands have been successfully used as a component in manufactured soils in U.S., but concern over metal contamination must be eliminated before considering this direction of use. The study evaluated the leaching of heavy metals (Cd, Pb, Cu, Zn, Cr, Ni) from deposited waste foundry sands. The overall, as well as heavy metals were extracted by different type of extractants: H2O, CH3COOH, HCl, EDTA, MgCl2 and NaCOOH. These extractants are most commonly used to study the mobility and bioavailability of metals in soil and waste. In the present study applicable standards and methodology described in the literature in analysis were used. The results allowed to evaluate the bioavailability of metals leached from those wastes.

  9. Ultrasound-assisted HCl-NaCl leaching of lead-rich and antimony-rich oxidizing slag.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Rong Liang; Zhang, Xiao Fei; Tang, Shu Zhen; Huang, Ai Dong

    2015-11-01

    Lead-rich and antimony-rich oxidizing slag was subjected to regular HCl-NaCl leaching, with the experimental conditions optimized under which ultrasound was introduced. After only 15 min of ultrasound-assisted leaching, the leaching rate of Sb resembled that after 45 min of regular leaching. Ultrasonic treatment considerably elevated the leaching rates of Sb and Pb, and shortened the leaching time. With the decrease of particle size, the leaching rate of Sb and Pb increased gradually. Especially, as the particle size of the slag was greater than 0.217 mm, the ultrasonic leaching effects of Sb and Pb were significantly higher than that of regular leaching effects. The temperature exhibited great effect on ultrasonic leaching performance. As the temperature increased, the leaching rates of Sb and Pb increased step by step. In case the temperature was higher than 85°C, the increasing speed of the leaching rates for Sb and Pb tended to be slow. Increasing ultrasonic power could augment the leaching rate or accelerate the procedure till the same leaching rate. However, since ultrasound failed to energize the formation of new reaction pathways, the maximum leaching rates of Sb and Pb were determined by their phase compositions rather than by ultrasonic field. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  10. Influencing factors and kinetics analysis on the leaching of iron from boron carbide waste-scrap with ultrasound-assisted method.

    PubMed

    Li, Xin; Xing, Pengfei; Du, Xinghong; Gao, Shuaibo; Chen, Chen

    2017-09-01

    In this paper, the ultrasound-assisted leaching of iron from boron carbide waste-scrap was investigated and the optimization of different influencing factors had also been performed. The factors investigated were acid concentration, liquid-solid ratio, leaching temperature, ultrasonic power and frequency. The leaching of iron with conventional method at various temperatures was also performed. The results show the maximum iron leaching ratios are 87.4%, 94.5% for 80min-leaching with conventional method and 50min-leaching with ultrasound assistance, respectively. The leaching of waste-scrap with conventional method fits the chemical reaction-controlled model. The leaching with ultrasound assistance fits chemical reaction-controlled model, diffusion-controlled model for the first stage and second stage, respectively. The assistance of ultrasound can greatly improve the iron leaching ratio, accelerate the leaching rate, shorten leaching time and lower the residual iron, comparing with conventional method. The advantages of ultrasound-assisted leaching were also confirmed by the SEM-EDS analysis and elemental analysis of the raw material and leached solid samples. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  11. PEP Support: Laboratory Scale Leaching and Permeate Stability Tests

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Russell, Renee L.; Peterson, Reid A.; Rinehart, Donald E.

    2010-05-21

    This report documents results from a variety of activities requested by the Hanford Tank Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP). The activities related to caustic leaching, oxidative leaching, permeate precipitation behavior of waste as well as chromium (Cr) leaching are: • Model Input Boehmite Leaching Tests • Pretreatment Engineering Platform (PEP) Support Leaching Tests • PEP Parallel Leaching Tests • Precipitation Study Results • Cr Caustic and Oxidative Leaching Tests. Leaching test activities using the PEP simulant provided input to a boehmite dissolution model and determined the effect of temperature on mass loss during caustic leaching, the reaction rate constantmore » for the boehmite dissolution, and the effect of aeration in enhancing the chromium dissolution during caustic leaching. Other tests were performed in parallel with the PEP tests to support the development of scaling factors for caustic and oxidative leaching. Another study determined if precipitate formed in the wash solution after the caustic leach in the PEP. Finally, the leaching characteristics of different chromium compounds under different conditions were examined to determine the best one to use in further testing.« less

  12. Ultrasound-assisted leaching of rare earths from the weathered crust elution-deposited ore using magnesium sulfate without ammonia-nitrogen pollution.

    PubMed

    Yin, Shaohua; Pei, Jiannan; Jiang, Feng; Li, Shiwei; Peng, Jinhui; Zhang, Libo; Ju, Shaohua; Srinivasakannan, Chandrasekar

    2018-03-01

    The in situ leaching process of China's unique ion-adsorption rare earth ores has caused severe environmental damages due to the use of (NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 solution. This study reports that magnesium sulfate (MgSO 4 ) as a leaching agent would replace (NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 by ultrasonically assisted leaching to deal with the ammonia-nitrogen pollution problem and enhance leaching process. At leaching conditions of 3wt% MgSO 4 concentration, 3:1L/S ratio and 30min, the total rare earth leaching efficiency reaches 75.5%. Ultrasound-assisted leaching experiments show that the leaching efficiency of rare earths is substantially increased by introducing ultrasound, and nearly completely leached out after two stage leaching process. Thus, ultrasonic-assisted leaching process with MgSO 4 is not only effective but also environmentally friendly, and beneficial to leach rare earths at laboratory scale. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  13. A review of the structure, and fundamental mechanisms and kinetics of the leaching of chalcopyrite.

    PubMed

    Li, Y; Kawashima, N; Li, J; Chandra, A P; Gerson, A R

    2013-09-01

    Most investigators regard CuFeS2 as having the formal oxidation states of Cu(+)Fe(3+)(S(2-))2. However, the spectroscopic characterisation of chalcopyrite is clearly influenced by the considerable degree of covalency between S and both Fe and Cu. The poor cleavage of CuFeS2 results in conchoidal surfaces. Reconstruction of the fractured surfaces to form, from what was previously bulk S(2-), a mixture of surface S(2-), S2(2) and S(n)(2-) (or metal deficient sulfide) takes place. Oxidation of chalcopyrite in air (i.e. 0.2 atm of O2 equilibrated with atmospheric water vapour) results in a Fe(III)-O-OH surface layer on top of a Cu rich sulfide layer overlying the bulk chalcopyrite with the formation of Cu(II) and Fe(III) sulfate, and Cu(I)-O on prolonged oxidation. Cu2O and Cu2S-like species have also been proposed to form on exposure of chalcopyrite to air. S2(2-), S(n)(2-) and S(0) form on the chalcopyrite surface upon aqueous leaching. The latter two of these species along with a jarosite-like species are frequently proposed to result in surface leaching passivation. However, some investigators have reported the formation of S(0) sufficiently porous to allow ion transportation to and from the chalcopyrite surface. Moreover, under some conditions both S(n)(2-) and S(0) were observed to increase in surface concentration for the duration of the leach with no resulting passivation. The effect of a number of oxidants, e.g. O2, H2O2, Cu(2+), Cr(6+) and Fe(3+), has been examined. However, this is often accompanied by poor control of leach parameters, principally pH and E(h). Nevertheless, there is general agreement in the literature that chalcopyrite leaching is significantly affected by solution redox potential with an optimum E(h) range suggesting the participation of leach steps that involve both oxidation and reduction. Three kinetic models have generally been suggested by researchers to be applicable: diffusion, chemical reaction and a mixed model containing diffusion and chemical components which occur at different stages of leaching. Passivation effects, due to surface diffusion rate control, may be affected by leach conditions such as pH or E(h). However, only initial conditions are generally described and these parameters are not controlled in most studies. However, at fixed pH, E(h) and temperature, it appears most likely that leaching in sulfuric acid media in the presence of added Fe(3+) is surface reaction rate controlled with some initial period, depending on leach conditions, where the leach rate is surface layer diffusion controlled. Although bioleaching of some copper ores has been adopted by industry, bioleaching has yet to be applied to predominantly chalcopyrite ores due to the slow resulting leach rates. Mixed microbial strains usually yield higher leach rates, as compared to single strains, as different bacterial strains are able to adapt to the changing leach conditions throughout the leach process. As for chemical leaching, passivation is also observed on bioleaching with jarosite being likely to be the main contributor. In summary, whilst much has been observed at the macro-scale regarding the chalcopyrite leach process it is clear that interpretation of these phenomena is hampered by lack of understanding at the molecular or atomic scale. Three primary questions that require elucidation, before the overall mechanism can be understood are: 1. How does the surface of chalcopyrite interact with solution or air borne oxidants? 2. How does the nature of these oxidants affect the surface products formed? 3. What determines whether the surface formed will be passivating or not? These can only realistically be tackled by the application of near atomic-scale analytical approaches, which may include quantum chemical modelling, PEEM/SPEM, TEM, AFM etc. Crown Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  14. Leaching kinetics of cobalt from the scraps of spent aerospace magnetic materials.

    PubMed

    Zhou, Xuejiao; Chen, Yongli; Yin, Jianguo; Xia, Wentang; Yuan, Xiaoli; Xiang, Xiaoyan

    2018-06-01

    Based on physicochemical properties of the scraps of spent aerospace magnetic materials, a roasting - magnetic separation followed by sulfuric acid leaching process was proposed to extract cobalt. Roasting was performed at 500 °C to remove organic impurity. Non-magnetic impurities were reduced by magnetic separation and then the raw material was sieved into desired particle sizes. Acid leaching was carried out to extract cobalt from the scraps and experimental parameters included agitation speed, particle size, initial concentration of sulfuric acid and temperature. Agitation speed higher than 300 r/min had a relatively small impact on the cobalt extraction. As the particle size reduced, the content of cobalt in the raw material decreases and the extraction of cobalt by acid leaching increased at first and decreased afterwards. Raising the initial concentration of sulfuric acid and temperature contributed to improve the cobalt extraction and the influence of temperature was more remarkable. SEM image revealed that the spent aerospace magnetic materials mainly existed in the sliced strip flake with a loose surface and porous structure. Under the experimental condition, the leaching rate of cobalt from the scraps in sulfuric acid solution could be expressed as ln(-ln(1 - α)) = lnk + nlnt. The apparent activation energy was found to be 38.33 kJ/mol and it was mainly controlled by the surface chemical reaction. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. Cementitious Barriers Partnership (CBP): Using the CBP Software Toolbox to Simulate Sulfate Attack and Carbonation of Concrete Structures - 13481

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Brown, K.G.; Kosson, D.S.; Garrabrants, A.C.

    2013-07-01

    The Cementitious Barriers Partnership (CBP) Project is a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional collaboration supported by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Tank Waste Management. The CBP project has developed a set of integrated modeling tools and leaching test methods to help improve understanding and prediction of the long-term hydraulic and chemical performance of cementitious materials used in nuclear applications. State-of-the-art modeling tools, including LeachXS{sup TM}/ORCHESTRA and STADIUM{sup R}, were selected for their demonstrated abilities to simulate reactive transport and degradation in cementitious materials. The new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency leaching test methods based on the Leaching Environmental Assessment Framework (LEAF), nowmore » adopted as part of the SW-846 RCRA methods, have been used to help make the link between modeling and experiment. Although each of the CBP tools has demonstrated utility as a standalone product, coupling the models over relevant spatial and temporal solution domains can provide more accurate predictions of cementitious materials behavior over relevant periods of performance. The LeachXS{sup TM}/ORCHESTRA and STADIUM{sup R} models were first linked to the GoldSim Monte Carlo simulator to better and more easily characterize model uncertainties and as a means to coupling the models allowing linking to broader performance assessment evaluations that use CBP results for a source term. Two important degradation scenarios were selected for initial demonstration: sulfate ingress / attack and carbonation of cementitious materials. When sufficient sulfate is present in the pore solution external to a concrete barrier, sulfate can diffuse into the concrete, react with the concrete solid phases, and cause cracking that significantly changes the transport and structural properties of the concrete. The penetration of gaseous carbon dioxide within partially saturated concrete usually initiates a series of carbonation reactions with both dissolved ions and the hydrated cement paste. The carbonation process itself does not have a negative effect, per se, on the paste physical properties and can even result in reduced porosity and can help form a protective layer at the surface of concrete. However, carbonation has been shown to increase leaching of some constituents and can potentially have a detrimental effect on reinforced concrete structures by lowering pH to ca. 9 and de-passivating embedded steel (e.g. rebar) and accelerating corrosion, which are important processes related to high-level waste tank integrity and closure evaluations. The use of the CBP Software Toolbox to simulate these important degradation phenomena for both concrete vaults and high-level waste tanks are demonstrated in this paper. (authors)« less

  16. Long-term simulations of water and isoproturon dynamics in a heterogeneous soil receiving different urban waste composts

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Filipović, Vilim; Coquet, Yves; Pot, Valérie; Romić, Davor; Benoit, Pierre; Houot, Sabine

    2016-04-01

    Implementing various compost amendments and tillage practices has a large influence on soil structure and can create heterogeneities at the plot/field scale. While tillage affects soil physical properties, compost application influences also chemical properties like pesticide sorption and degradation. A long-term field experiment called "QualiAgro" (https://www6.inra.fr/qualiagro_eng/), conducted since 1998 aims at characterizing the agronomic value of urban waste composts and their environmental impacts. A modeling study was carried out using HYDRUS-2D for the 2004-2010 period to confront the effects of two different compost types combined with the presence of heterogeneities due to tillage in terms of water and isoproturon dynamics in soil. A municipal solid waste compost (MSW) and a co-compost of sewage sludge and green wastes (SGW) have been applied to experimental plots and compared to a control plot without any compost addition (CONT). Two wick lysimeters, 5 TDR probes, and 7 tensiometers were installed per plot to monitor water and isoproturon dynamics. In the ploughed layer, four zones with differing soil structure were identified: compacted clods (Δ), non-compacted soil (Γ), interfurrows (IF), and the plough pan (PP). These different soil structural zones were implemented into HYDRUS-2D according to field observation and using measured soil hydraulic properties. Lysimeter data showed (2004 -2010 period) that the CONT plot had the largest cumulative water outflow (1388 mm) compared to the MSW plot (962 mm) and SGW plot (979 mm). HYDRUS-2D was able to describe cumulative water outflow after calibration of soil hydraulic properties, for the whole 2004-2010 period with a model efficiency value of 0.99 for all three plots. Isoproturon leaching showed had the largest cumulative value in the CONT plot (21.31 μg) while similar cumulated isoproturon leachings were measured in the SGW (0.663 μg) and MSW (0.245 μg) plots. The model was able to simulate isoproturon leaching patterns except for the large preferential flow events that were observed in the MSW and CONT plots. The timing of these preferential flow events could be reproduced by the model but not their magnitude. Additional simulations were carried out, assuming temporal variation of the IPU degradation rate to explain the leaching events observed at the end of the monitoring period (2010). Modeling results indicate that spatial and temporal variations in pesticide degradation rate due to tillage and compost application play a major role in the dynamics of isoproturon leaching. Both types of compost were found to reduce isoproturon leaching on the long-term (6 years) duration of the field experiment. Keywords: Compost amendment; Soil heterogeneity; Conventional tillage; Water flow; Isoproturon; HYDRUS-2D

  17. Unexpected Patterns in Snow and Dirt

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ackerson, Bruce J.

    2018-01-01

    For more than 30 years, Albert A. Bartlett published "Thermal patterns in the snow" in this journal. These are patterns produced by heat sources underneath the snow. Bartlett's articles encouraged me to pay attention to patterns in snow and to understanding them. At winter's end the last snow becomes dirty and is heaped into piles. This…

  18. 117. Photocopied August 1978. VIEW OF EAST FOREBAY SHOWING COMPLETED ...

    Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

    117. Photocopied August 1978. VIEW OF EAST FOREBAY SHOWING COMPLETED APRON. NOVEMBER 24, 1926. CLAY LEFT OVER FROM REFILLING THE AREA BETWEEN FOREBAY FLOOR SILLS IS SHOWN HEAPED AGAINST THE FOREBAY WALL TO PROVIDE AN EXTRA MEASURE OF PROTECTION. (1051) - Michigan Lake Superior Power Company, Portage Street, Sault Ste. Marie, Chippewa County, MI

  19. Using Data to Guide Action for School Improvement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    North Central Comprehensive Center, 2012

    2012-01-01

    Schools and school districts are data-rich environments, with heaps of data on student demographics, achievement, outcomes, and perceptions. With so much data available, it can be easy to get caught up in the sheer enormity of the data sets. A cohesive data analysis and decision-making process can help schools, districts, and additional…

  20. Exploring the Properties of Liquids. Grade 5. Revised. Anchorage School District Elementary Science Program.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Defendorf, Jean, Ed.

    This unit contains 14 lessons on the properties of liquids for fifth graders. It describes materials, supplementary materials, use of process skill terminology, unit objectives, vocabulary, and background information for teachers. Lessons are: (1) "Heaping and Drops/Cohesion"; (2) "Beading of Liquid Columns/Cohesion"; (3)…

  1. Can We Be Garbage Free?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Smith-Hagadone, Perky

    2013-01-01

    The happy chatter and clatter of students bounce off the lunchroom walls at a Northside Elementary School in Sandpoint, Idaho as children eagerly gobble their food and slurp their drinks. Boys and girls with crinkled brown bag lunches filled with disposable products sit next to students with trays heaped with hot lunch and all manner of synthetic…

  2. Model Checking Real Time Java Using Java PathFinder

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lindstrom, Gary; Mehlitz, Peter C.; Visser, Willem

    2005-01-01

    The Real Time Specification for Java (RTSJ) is an augmentation of Java for real time applications of various degrees of hardness. The central features of RTSJ are real time threads; user defined schedulers; asynchronous events, handlers, and control transfers; a priority inheritance based default scheduler; non-heap memory areas such as immortal and scoped, and non-heap real time threads whose execution is not impeded by garbage collection. The Robust Software Systems group at NASA Ames Research Center has JAVA PATHFINDER (JPF) under development, a Java model checker. JPF at its core is a state exploring JVM which can examine alternative paths in a Java program (e.g., via backtracking) by trying all nondeterministic choices, including thread scheduling order. This paper describes our implementation of an RTSJ profile (subset) in JPF, including requirements, design decisions, and current implementation status. Two examples are analyzed: jobs on a multiprogramming operating system, and a complex resource contention example involving autonomous vehicles crossing an intersection. The utility of JPF in finding logic and timing errors is illustrated, and the remaining challenges in supporting all of RTSJ are assessed.

  3. First Spectra of O Stars in R136A

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Heap, Sara

    1994-01-01

    Hubble images of the cluster, R136a, in the LMC indicate that the cluster contains 3 Wolf-Rayet stars, R136a1,-a2, and a3 (Campbell et al. 1992) and numerous O and B-type stars. Although models for WR stars are not well enough developed to infer the basic parameters of the 3 WR stars in R136a, models for O stars are well well established, and they suggest that the O stars in R136a are relatively normal, having initial masses no higher than 60 Msun (Heap et al. 1992, Malumuth & Heap 1992, di Marchi et al. 1993); there are no unusual "super-massive" stars in R136a. With HST/GHRS/CoSTAR, it will be possible to obtain spectra of an O star in R136a without contam- ination by WR stars. These spectra will be able to confirm or invalidate the photometric results. Thus, these spectra will have implications both for the population of R136a and for the validity of stellar population studies of giant extragalactic HII regions and starbursts that are based entirely on photometry.

  4. Bald Mountain gold mining district, Nevada: A Jurassic reduced intrusion-related gold system

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Nutt, C.J.; Hofstra, A.H.

    2007-01-01

    The Bald Mountain mining district has produced about 2 million ounces (Moz) of An. Geologic mapping, field relationships, geochemical data, petrographic observations, fluid inclusion characteristics, and Pb, S, O, and H isotope data indicate that An mineralization was associated with a reduced Jurassic intrusion. Gold deposits are localized within and surrounding a Jurassic (159 Ma) quartz monzonite porphyry pluton and dike complex that intrudes Cambrian to Mississippian carbonate and clastic rocks. The pluton, associated dikes, and An mineralization were controlled by a crustal-scale northwest-trending structure named the Bida trend. Gold deposits are localized by fracture networks in the pluton and the contact metamorphic aureole, dike margins, high-angle faults, and certain strata or shale-limestone contacts in sedimentary rocks. Gold mineralization was accompanied by silicification and phyllic alteration, ??argillic alteration at shallow levels. Although An is typically present throughout, the system exhibits a classic concentric geochemical zonation pattern with Mo, W, Bi, and Cu near the center, Ag, Pb, and Zn at intermediate distances, and As and Sb peripheral to the intrusion. Near the center of the system, micron-sized native An occurs with base metal sulfides and sulfosalts. In peripheral deposits and in later stages of mineralization, Au is typically submicron in size and resides in pyrite or arsenopyrite. Electron microprobe and laser ablation ICP-MS analyses show that arsenopyrite, pyrite, and Bi sulfide minerals contain 10s to 1,000s of ppm Au. Ore-forming fluids were aqueous and carbonic at deep levels and episodically hypersaline at shallow levels due to boiling. The isotopic compositions of H and O in quartz and sericite and S and Pb in sulfides are indicative of magmatic ore fluids with sedimentary sulfur. Together, the evidence suggests that Au was introduced by reduced S-bearing magmatic fluids derived from a reduced intrusion. The reduced character of the intrusion was caused by assimilation of carbonaceous sedimentary rocks. Tertiary faults dismember the area and drop down the upper part of the mineralizing system to the west. The abundant and widespread kaolinite in oxide ores is relatively disordered (1A polytype) and has ??D and ??18O values suggestive of a supergene origin. The deep weathering and oxidation of the ores associated with exhumation made them amenable to open-pit mining and processing using cyanide heap leach methods. ?? 2007 Society of Economic Geologists, Inc.

  5. Research on the effect of alkali roasting of copper dross on leaching rate of indium

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dafang, Liu; Fan, Xingxiang; Shi, Yifeng; Yang, Kunbin

    2017-11-01

    The byproduct copper dross produced during refining crude lead was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and fluorescence spectrometer (XRF), which showed that copper dross mainly contained lead, copper, zinc, arsenic, antimony, bismuth, sulfur and a small amount of indium and silver etc. The mineralogical phase change of oxidation roasting of copper dross by adding sodium hydroxide was analyzed with the help of XRD and SEM. The effects of water leaching, ratio of sodium hydroxide, roasting time, and roasting temperature on leaching rate of indium were investigated mainly. The experimental results showed that phase of lead metal and sulfides of lead, copper and zinc disappeared after oxidation roasting of copper dross by adding sodium hydroxide, new phase of oxides of lead, copper, zinc and sodium salt of arsenic and antimony appeared. Water leaching could remove arsenic, and acid leaching residue obtained was then leached with acid. The leaching rate of indium was higher 6.98% compared with alkali roasting of copper dross-acid leaching. It showed that removing arsenic by water leaching and acid leaching could increase the leaching rate of indium and be beneficial to reducing subsequent acid consumption of extracting indium by acid leaching. The roasting temperature had a significant effect on the leaching rate of indium, and leaching rate of indium increased with the rise of roasting temperature. When roasting temperature ranged from 450°C to 600°C, leaching rate of indium increased significantly with the rise of roasting temperature. When roasting temperature rose from 450°C to 600°C, leaching rate of indium increased by 60.29%. The amount of sodium hydroxide had an significant effect on the leaching rate of indium, and the leaching of indium increased with the increase of the amount of sodium hydroxide, and the leaching rate of indium was obviously higher than that of copper dross blank roasting and acid leaching.

  6. Comparison of Ultrasound-Assisted and Regular Leaching of Vanadium and Chromium from Roasted High Chromium Vanadium Slag

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wen, Jing; Jiang, Tao; Gao, Huiyang; Liu, Yajing; Zheng, Xiaole; Xue, Xiangxin

    2018-02-01

    Ultrasound-assisted leaching (UAL) was used for vanadium and chromium leaching from roasted material obtained by the calcification roasting of high-chromium-vanadium slag. UAL was compared with regular leaching. The effect of the leaching time and temperature, acid concentration, and liquid-solid ratio on the vanadium and chromium leaching behaviors was investigated. The UAL mechanism was determined from particle-size-distribution and microstructure analyses. UAL decreased the reaction time and leaching temperature significantly. Furthermore, 96.67% vanadium and less than 1% chromium were leached at 60°C for 60 min with 20% H2SO4 at a liquid-solid ratio of 8, which was higher than the maximum vanadium leaching rate of 90.89% obtained using regular leaching at 80°C for 120 min. Ultrasonic waves broke and dispersed the solid sample because of ultrasonic cavitation, which increased the contact area of the roasted sample and the leaching medium, the solid-liquid mass transfer, and the vanadium leaching rate.

  7. Preparation and characterization of shape memory polymer scaffolds via solvent casting/particulate leaching.

    PubMed

    De Nardo, Luigi; Bertoldi, Serena; Cigada, Alberto; Tanzi, Maria Cristina; Haugen, Håvard Jostein; Farè, Silvia

    2012-09-27

    Porous Shape Memory Polymers (SMPs) are ideal candidates for the fabrication of defect fillers, able to support tissue regeneration via minimally invasive approaches. In this regard, control of pore size, shape and interconnection is required to achieve adequate nutrient transport and cell ingrowth. Here, we assessed the feasibility of the preparation of SMP porous structures and characterized their chemico-physical properties and in vitro cell response. SMP scaffolds were obtained via solvent casting/particulate leaching of gelatin microspheres, prepared via oil/water emulsion. A solution of commercial polyether-urethane (MM-4520, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries) was cast on compacted microspheres and leached-off after polymer solvent evaporation. The obtained structures were characterized in terms of morphology (SEM and micro-CT), thermo-mechanical properties (DMTA), shape recovery behavior in compression mode, and in vitro cytocompatibility (MG63 Osteoblast-like cell line). The fabrication process enabled easy control of scaffold morphology, pore size, and pore shape by varying the gelatin microsphere morphology. Homogeneous spherical and interconnected pores have been achieved together with the preservation of shape memory ability, with recovery rate up to 90%. Regardless of pore dimensions, MG63 cells were observed adhering and spreading onto the inner surface of the scaffolds obtained for up to seven days of static in vitro tests. A new class of SMP porous structures has been obtained and tested in vitro: according to these preliminary results reported, SMP scaffolds can be further exploited in the design of a new class of implantable devices.

  8. Geochemically structural characteristics of municipal solid waste incineration fly ash particles and mineralogical surface conversions by chelate treatment.

    PubMed

    Kitamura, Hiroki; Sawada, Takaya; Shimaoka, Takayuki; Takahashi, Fumitake

    2016-01-01

    Leaching behaviors of heavy metals contained in municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) fly ash have been studied well. However, micro-characteristics of MSWI fly ash particles are still uncertain and might be non-negligible to describe their leaching behaviors. Therefore, this study investigated micro-characteristics of MSWI fly ash particles, especially their structural properties and impacts of chelate treatment on surface characteristics. According to SEM observations, raw fly ash particles could be categorized into four types based on their shapes. Because chelate treatment changed the surface of fly ash particles dramatically owing to secondary mineral formations like ettringite, two more types could be categorized for chelate-treated fly ash particles. Acid extraction experiments suggest that fly ash particles, tested in this study, consist of Si-base insoluble core structure, Al/Ca/Si-base semi-soluble matrices inside the body, and KCl/NaCl-base soluble aggregates on the surface. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) observations of the same fly ash particles during twice moistening treatments showed that KCl/NaCl moved under wet condition and concentrated at different places on the particle surface. However, element mobility depended on secondary mineral formations. When insoluble mineral like gypsum was generated and covered the particle surface, it inhibited element transfer under wet condition. Surface characteristics including secondary mineral formation of MSWI fly ash particles are likely non-negligible to describe trace element leaching behaviors.

  9. Glomeromycota communities survive extreme levels of metal toxicity in an orphan mining site.

    PubMed

    Sánchez-Castro, I; Gianinazzi-Pearson, V; Cleyet-Marel, J C; Baudoin, E; van Tuinen, D

    2017-11-15

    Abandoned tailing basins and waste heaps of orphan mining sites are of great concern since extreme metal contamination makes soil improper for any human activity and is a permanent threat for nearby surroundings. Although spontaneous revegetation can occur, the process is slow or unsuccessful and rhizostabilisation strategies to reduce dispersal of contaminated dust represent an option to rehabilitate such sites. This requires selection of plants tolerant to such conditions, and optimization of their fitness and growth. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) can enhance metal tolerance in moderately polluted soils, but their ability to survive extreme levels of metal contamination has not been reported. This question was addressed in the tailing basin and nearby waste heaps of an orphan mining site in southern France, reaching in the tailing basin exceptionally high contents of zinc (ppm: 97,333 total) and lead (ppm: 31,333 total). In order to contribute to a better understanding of AMF ecology under severe abiotic stress and to identify AMF associated with plants growing under such conditions, that may be considered in future revegetation and rhizostabilisation of highly polluted areas, nine plant species were sampled at different growing seasons and AMF root colonization was determined. Glomeromycota diversity was monitored in mycorrhizal roots by sequencing of the ribosomal LSU. This first survey of AMF in such highly contaminated soils revealed the presence of several AMF ribotypes, belonging mainly to the Glomerales, with some examples from the Paraglomerales and Diversisporales. AMF diversity and root colonization in the tailing basin were lower than in the less-contaminated waste heaps. A Paraglomus species previously identified in a polish mining site was common in roots of different plants. Presence of active AMF in such an environment is an outstanding finding, which should be clearly considered for the design of efficient rhizostabilisation processes. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  10. Leaching Test Relationships, Laboratory-to-Field Comparisons and Recommendations for Leaching Evaluation using the Leaching Environmental Assessment Framework (LEAF)

    EPA Science Inventory

    This report presents examples of the relationships between the results of laboratory leaching tests, as defined by the Leaching Environmental Assessment Framework (LEAF) or analogous international test methods, and leaching of constituents from a broad range of materials under di...

  11. MODELING AGGREGATE EXPOSURE AND DOSE OF CHILDREN TO A WOOD TREATMENT PRESERVATIVE FROM PLAYSETS AND HOME DECKS

    EPA Science Inventory

    Pressure- or non-pressure- treated lumber may pose a potential health hazard to children if the children contact certain chemicals in soils around leaching wood structures and/or in dislodgeable residues that may form on the wood surfaces of the structures. A physically-based,...

  12. [Effect of acidification on the dewaterability of sewage sludge in bioleaching].

    PubMed

    Zhu, Hai-Feng; Zhou, Li-Xiang; Wang, Dian-Zhan

    2012-03-01

    Batch experiments were performed to exploit the effect and the mechanism of bioleaching on sludge dewaterability by the inoculation of Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans LX5 in this study. Besides, chemical leaching experiments using sulphuric acid were also performed as control to study the effect of acidification on sludge dewaterability. During the processes of both biological and chemical leaching, Zeta potential, cell lyses, morphology and structure of sludge flocs were monitored. Results showed that along with the acid production and hence the decrease of pH during bioleaching, the specific resistance of bioleached sludge decreased systematically from 1.81 x 10(12) m x kg(-1) to 0.59 x 10(12) m x kg(-1), whilst Zeta potential increased from -25.2 mV to 9.6 mV, and the natural sedimentation rate increased to as high as 48% at pH 2.90. In chemical leaching, the specific resistance decreased continuously to a minimum value of 2.6 x 10(12) m x kg(-1) at pH 3.35 and then started to increase. Zeta potential increased with the decrease of pH, and reached zero at pH 2.90. At strong acid condition, sludge cells could be decomposed, resulting in the increase of total dissolved phosphorus in centrifugal liquor of chemical leached sludge. However, this phenomenon was not observed in bioleaching process because that the phosphorus was utilized by the abundant microorganism in system. Observation by SEM showed that there was no obvious change in the flocs structure of both sludge at pH 3.35 except for that some secondary minerals appeared only in bioleached sludge. These results revealed that decrease of absolute value of Zeta potential and formation of secondary minerals caused by bioleaching were responsible for the improvement of sludge dewaterability.

  13. Ultrasound augmented leaching of nickel sulfate in sulfuric acid and hydrogen peroxide media.

    PubMed

    Li, Haoyu; Li, Shiwei; Peng, Jinhui; Srinivasakannan, Chandrasekar; Zhang, Libo; Yin, Shaohua

    2018-01-01

    A new method of preparation high purity nickel sulfate assisted by ultrasonic was studied. The process mechanism was analyzed by Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and Energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS).The reaction mechanisms of oxidizing leaching and ultrasonic leaching were explored, respectively. Results showed that ultrasonic treatment peel off the oxide film on the surface of nickel. The leachate under strongly agitated, the yield rate of nickel sulfate was accelerate. And the reaction area was increased by the cavitation effect, the liquid-solid reaction was promoted, and the activation energy was reduced. The leaching rate of nickel reached 46.29% by conventional leaching, which takes about 5h. Under the same conditions, the ultrasonic leaching rate reached 40%, only half of the conventional leaching time. Concentration of leaching agent, reaction temperature, ultrasonic power, leaching time had significant effect on the enhancement of the leaching reaction with ultrasonic radiation. The leaching rate of 60.41% under the optimum experiment conditions as follows: sulfuric acid concentration 30%, hydrogen peroxide 10%, leaching temperature 333K, ultrasonic power 200W and leaching time 4h. The kinetic study of the system was investigated, and the reaction rates of conventional leaching and ultrasonic leaching were controlled by diffusion, and the apparent activation energies were 16.2kJ/mol and 11.83kJ/mol. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  14. Gaseous Elemental Mercury and Total and Leached Mercury in Building Materials from the Former Hg-Mining Area of Abbadia San Salvatore (Central Italy).

    PubMed

    Vaselli, Orlando; Nisi, Barbara; Rappuoli, Daniele; Cabassi, Jacopo; Tassi, Franco

    2017-04-15

    Mercury has a strong environmental impact since both its organic and inorganic forms are toxic, and it represents a pollutant of global concern. Liquid Hg is highly volatile and can be released during natural and anthropogenic processes in the hydrosphere, biosphere and atmosphere. In this study, the distribution of Gaseous Elemental Mercury (GEM) and the total and leached mercury concentrations on paint, plaster, roof tiles, concrete, metals, dust and wood structures were determined in the main buildings and structures of the former Hg-mining area of Abbadia San Salvatore (Siena, Central Italy). The mining complex (divided into seven units) covers a surface of about 65 ha and contains mining structures and managers' and workers' buildings. Nine surveys of GEM measurements were carried out from July 2011 to August 2015 for the buildings and structures located in Units 2, 3 and 6, the latter being the area where liquid mercury was produced. Measurements were also performed in February, April, July, September and December 2016 in the edifices and mining structures of Unit 6. GEM concentrations showed a strong variability in time and space mostly depending on ambient temperature and the operational activities that were carried out in each building. The Unit 2 surveys carried out in the hotter period (from June to September) showed GEM concentrations up to 27,500 ng·m -3 , while in Unit 6, they were on average much higher, and occasionally, they saturated the GEM measurement device (>50,000 ng·m -3 ). Concentrations of total (in mg·kg -1 ) and leached (in μg·L -1 ) mercury measured in different building materials (up to 46,580 mg·kg -1 and 4470 mg·L -1 , respectively) were highly variable, being related to the edifice or mining structure from which they were collected. The results obtained in this study are of relevant interest for operational cleanings to be carried out during reclamation activities.

  15. Statistical comparison of leaching behavior of incineration bottom ash using seawater and deionized water: Significant findings based on several leaching methods.

    PubMed

    Yin, Ke; Dou, Xiaomin; Ren, Fei; Chan, Wei-Ping; Chang, Victor Wei-Chung

    2018-02-15

    Bottom ashes generated from municipal solid waste incineration have gained increasing popularity as alternative construction materials, however, they contains elevated heavy metals posing a challenge for its free usage. Different leaching methods are developed to quantify leaching potential of incineration bottom ashes meanwhile guide its environmentally friendly application. Yet, there are diverse IBA applications while the in situ environment is always complicated, challenging its legislation. In this study, leaching tests were conveyed using batch and column leaching methods with seawater as opposed to deionized water, to unveil the metal leaching potential of IBA subjected to salty environment, which is commonly encountered when using IBA in land reclamation yet not well understood. Statistical analysis for different leaching methods suggested disparate performance between seawater and deionized water primarily ascribed to ionic strength. Impacts of leachant are metal-specific dependent on leaching methods and have a function of intrinsic characteristics of incineration bottom ashes. Leaching performances were further compared on additional perspectives, e.g. leaching approach and liquid to solid ratio, indicating sophisticated leaching potentials dominated by combined geochemistry. It is necessary to develop application-oriented leaching methods with corresponding leaching criteria to preclude discriminations between different applications, e.g., terrestrial applications vs. land reclamation. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  16. Bioleaching of arsenopyrite by mixed cultures of iron-oxidizing and sulfur-oxidizing microorganisms.

    PubMed

    Deng, Sha; Gu, Guohua; Wu, Ziteng; Xu, Xiongyi

    2017-10-01

    Arsenic is a critical environmental pollutant associated with acid mine drainage. Arsenopyrite is one of the major arsenic sulfide minerals whose weathering lead to the contamination of arsenic. In this study, the leaching behaviors of arsenopyrite by two mixed cultures of iron-oxidizing and sulfur-oxidizing microorganisms (Ferroplasma thermophilum and Acidithiobacillus caldus, Sulfobacillus thermosulfidooxidans and Acidithiobacillus caldus) were investigated, accompanying with community structure analysis of free microorganisms. The ratio of F. thermophilum to A. caldus of 1/1 showed a more favorable effect on the arsenic leaching than other ratios, and F. thermophilum played a dominant role in the solution all the leaching time. While adding A. caldus in the S. thermosulfidooxidans bioleaching system, the dissolution of arsenopyrite was suppressed. Notably, when the ratio of S. thermosulfidooxidans to A. caldus was 2/1, the arsenic extraction was accelerated at the early stage, but later it slowed down. The reason was because A. caldus was the predominant species at the later stage which made the redox potential decrease faster. XRD demonstrated that the proper addition of A. caldus could eliminate the sulfur passivation and promote the leaching in a degree. These studies are helpful to evaluate the environmental impact of arsenic. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Mineral Phases and Release Behaviors of As in the Process of Sintering Residues Containing As at High Temperature

    PubMed Central

    Wang, Xingrun; Zhang, Fengsong; Nong, Zexi

    2014-01-01

    To investigate the effect of sintering temperature and sintering time on arsenic volatility and arsenic leaching in the sinter, we carried out experimental works and studied the structural changes of mineral phases and microstructure observation of the sinter at different sintering temperatures. Raw materials were shaped under the pressure of 10 MPa and sintered at 1000~1350°C for 45 min with air flow rate of 2000 mL/min. The results showed that different sintering temperatures and different sintering times had little impact on the volatilization of arsenic, and the arsenic fixed rate remained above 90%; however, both factors greatly influenced the leaching concentration of arsenic. Considering the product's environmental safety, the best sintering temperature was 1200°C and the best sintering time was 45 min. When sintering temperature was lower than 1000°C, FeAsS was oxidized into calcium, aluminum, and iron arsenide, mainly Ca3(AsO4)2 and AlAsO4, and the arsenic leaching was high. When it increased to 1200°C, arsenic was surrounded by a glass matrix and became chemically bonded inside the matrix, which lead to significantly lower arsenic leaching. PMID:24723798

  18. Found and Missed: Failing to Recognize a Search Target despite Moving It

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Solman, Grayden J. F.; Cheyne, J. Allan; Smilek, Daniel

    2012-01-01

    We present results from five search experiments using a novel "unpacking" paradigm in which participants use a mouse to sort through random heaps of distractors to locate the target. We report that during this task participants often fail to recognize the target despite moving it, and despite having looked at the item. Additionally, the missed…

  19. Project Golden Gate: towards real-time Java in space missions

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Dvorak, Daniel; Bollella, Greg; Canham, Tim; Carson, Vanessa; Champlin, Virgil; Giovannoni, Brian; Indictor, Mark; Meyer, Kenny; Murray, Alex; Reinholtz, Kirk

    2004-01-01

    This paper describes the problem domain and our experimentation with the first commercial implementation of the Real Time Specification for Java. The two main issues explored in this report are: (1) the effect of RTSJ's non-heap memory on the programming model, and (2) performance benchmarking of RTSJ/Linux relative to C++/VxWorks.

  20. Measuring Atmospheric Free Radicals Using Chemical Amplification

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1988-05-01

    CH 3Br, H2S, and SO2 [Logan et al., 1981]. Recently, the OH radical has been determined as the dominant loss mechanism for isoprene and monoterpenes ...W. Heaps, D. Philen, and T. McGee, Bondary Layer Measurements of the OH Radical in the Vicinity of an Isolated Power Plant Plume: SO2 and NO2

  1. From the Middle to the Top of the Heap! Excellence in Rural Education.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Carr, John C.

    Since 1975 the Contoocook Valley District, a small rural cooperative school district in southwestern New Hampshire, has developed a performance-based student competency program which has resulted in a dramatic increase in scores on the Stanford Achievement Test. The district is comprised of 9 towns, covers an area of almost 300 square miles, and…

  2. Schooling for Humanity: When Big Brother Isn't Watching.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Solmitz, David O.

    Most educational reform initiatives of the past 20 years are geared towards ensuring that the United States dominates the emerging global economy. What is lost in this rush to the top of the materialist heap is an education for the more enduring human values: creativity, intellectual development, care, social justice, and democracy. In this book,…

  3. Bully, Bullied, Bystander...and beyond

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Coloroso, Barbara

    2011-01-01

    Bullying is seldom the only factor in a teenager's suicide. Often, mental illness and family stresses are involved. But bullying does plainly play a role in many cases. These students feel that they have no way out of the pain heaped on them by their tormentors so they turn the violence inward with a tragic and final exit. Bullying involves three…

  4. Heat-Energy Analysis for Solar Receivers

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lansing, F. L.

    1982-01-01

    Heat-energy analysis program (HEAP) solves general heat-transfer problems, with some specific features that are "custom made" for analyzing solar receivers. Can be utilized not only to predict receiver performance under varying solar flux, ambient temperature and local heat-transfer rates but also to detect locations of hotspots and metallurgical difficulties and to predict performance sensitivity of neighboring component parameters.

  5. Introducing Middle School Students to a Study of the Holocaust.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Christensen, Lois

    1999-01-01

    Believes that students will understand the evils of hatred and prejudice by studying the children of the Holocaust. Provides an introductory lesson to this topic that focuses on comprehending the number of victims killed during the Holocaust by examining photographs of victims' shoes heaped in a huge pile. Gives a list of references. (CMK)

  6. Neoliberalism, Immiseration Capitalism and the Historical Urgency of a Socialist Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Malott, Curry; Hill, Dave; Banfield, Grant

    2013-01-01

    In this paper we employ the concept of "Immiseration Capitalism" to indicate a systematic tendency of Capital to heap the "accumulation of misery" on the lives of the producing class while at the same time delivering great wealth to the hands of its own appropriating class. Neoliberalism is described as a specific political…

  7. Kindling: The Amazon e-Reader as an Educational Tool

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brezicki, Colin

    2011-01-01

    The revolutionary electronic reading device, Amazon's Kindle, is already obsolete. Such is the breakneck speed of technology that the machine touted to spell the death of printed books is already heading for the scrap heap, replaced by e-readers like the iPad that access the Internet, make phone calls, download movies, and connect users with all…

  8. Violence in Counterinsurgency - The Case of El Salvador

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2009-04-01

    bodies were heaped together behind the morgue; a handful ofwomen in the pile had their panties and stockings rolled down to their knees. I didn’t...over time. , A little girl is crying . .. "They’re burning my dress. They’re burning my dress." Nine villagers, one a fifteen year old boy, are

  9. Utilization of Electric Arc Furnace Dust as raw material for the production of ceramic and concrete building products.

    PubMed

    Sikalidis, Constantine; Mitrakas, Manassis

    2006-01-01

    The up to 20 wt% addition of the Electric Arc Furnace Dust (EAFD) hazardous waste on the properties of extruded clay-based ceramic building products fired at various temperatures (850 to 1050 degrees C), as well as of dolomite-concrete products was investigated. Chemical, mineralogical and particle size distribution analyses were performed in order to characterize the used EAFD. The results showed that the ceramic specimens prepared had water absorption, firing shrinkage, apparent density, mechanical strength, colour and leaching behaviour within accepted limits. Addition of 7.5 to 15 wt% EAFD presented improved properties, while 20 wt% seems to be the upper limit. Dolomite-concrete specimens were prepared by vibration and press-forming of mixtures containing cement, sand, dolomite, EAFD and water. Modulus of rupture values were significantly increased by the addition of EAFD. The leaching tests showed stabilization of all toxic metals within the sintered ceramic structure, while the leaching behaviour of lead in dolomite-concrete products needs further detailed study.

  10. Porous starch/cellulose nanofibers composite prepared by salt leaching technique for tissue engineering.

    PubMed

    Nasri-Nasrabadi, Bijan; Mehrasa, Mohammad; Rafienia, Mohammad; Bonakdar, Shahin; Behzad, Tayebeh; Gavanji, Shahin

    2014-08-08

    Starch/cellulose nanofibers composites with proper porosity pore size, mechanical strength, and biodegradability for cartilage tissue engineering have been reported in this study. The porous thermoplastic starch-based composites were prepared by combining film casting, salt leaching, and freeze drying methods. The diameter of 70% nanofibers was in the range of 40-90 nm. All samples had interconnected porous morphology; however an increase in pore interconnectivity was observed when the sodium chloride ratio was increased in the salt leaching. Scaffolds with the total porogen content of 70 wt% exhibited adequate mechanical properties for cartilage tissue engineering applications. The water uptake ratio of nanocomposites was remarkably enhanced by adding 10% cellulose nanofibers. The scaffolds were partially destroyed due to low in vitro degradation rate after more than 20 weeks. Cultivation of isolated rabbit chondrocytes on the fabricated scaffold proved that the incorporation of nanofibers in starch structure improves cell attachment and proliferation. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Leaching potential of chlorpyrifos in an Andisol and Entisol: adsorption-desorption and degradation studies

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mosquera-Vivas, Carmen; Walther Hansen, Eddy; Garcia-Santos, Glenda; Obregón-Neira, Nelson; Celis-Ossa, Raul Ernesto; González-Murillo, Carlos Alberto; Juraske, Ronnie; Hellweg, Stefanie; Guerrero-Dallos, Jairo Arturo

    2017-04-01

    Ecological status of tropical soils like high OC content and microbial activity plays a key role to reduce the leaching of insecticide chlorpyrifos through the soil profile and therefore into groundwater. We found that chlorpyrifos has "transitional" leaching potential (GUS values varied between 1.8 and 2.5) throughout the soil depth, which differs from the "nonleacher" classification for temperate soils as based on surface level t1/2 and Koc values from international databases. These findings provide strong evidence of the importance of estimating the transport parameters and insecticide concentrations in different soil layers, especially when the amount and type of OC content vary throughout the soil profile. We got to such conclusions after studying the soil profile structural composition of soil organic matter and the adsorption/desorption characteristics of the insecticide in two different soil profiles (Andisol and Entisol) under agriculture production using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance, and batch analysis methods.

  12. Leaching of viruses and other microorganisms naturally occurring in pig slurry to tile drains on a well-structured loamy field in Denmark

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Krog, Jesper S.; Forslund, Anita; Larsen, Lars E.; Dalsgaard, Anders; Kjaer, Jeanne; Olsen, Preben; Schultz, Anna Charlotte

    2017-06-01

    The amount of animal manure used in modern agriculture is increasing due to the increase in global animal production. Pig slurry is known to contain zoonotic bacteria such as E. coli, Salmonella spp. and Campylobacter spp., and viruses such as hepatitis E virus and group A rotavirus. Coliform bacteria, present in manure, have previously been shown to leach into tile drains. This poses a potential threat to aquatic environments and may also influence the quality of drinking water. As knowledge is especially scarce about the fate of viruses when applied to fields in natural settings, this project sets out to investigate the leaching potential of six different microorganisms: E. coli and Enterococcus spp. (detected by colony assay), somatic coliphages (using plaque assays), and hepatitis E virus, porcine circovirus type 2, and group A rotavirus (by real-time polymerase chain reaction). All six microorganisms leached through the soil entering the tile drains situated at 1-m depth the first day following pig slurry application. The leaching pattern of group A rotavirus differed substantially from the pattern for somatic coliphages, which are otherwise used as indicators for virus contamination. Furthermore, group A rotavirus was detected in monitoring wells at 3.5-m depth up to 2 months after pig slurry application. The detection of viral genomic material in drainage water and shallow groundwater signifies a potential hazard to human health that needs to be investigated further, as water reservoirs used for recreational use and drinking water are potentially contaminated with zoonotic pathogens.

  13. ION EXCHANGE TESTS ON LIQUOR AND PULPS PRODUCED FROM UTEX ORES. Topical Report

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Hollis, E.T.; Pickwick, F.J. Jr.; Kazanjian, A.R.

    1954-07-30

    Uranium leach liquors produced from Utex ore by cold leaching, hot leaching, and pugging proved amenable to the lon exchange process, Higher resin loadings were obtained rom the cold leach liquors than from the hot leach and pug liquors. In general, the less vigorous leaching conditions produced liquors which gave the highest resin loadings. In addition, a resin-in-pulp system was operated using the lucite Winchester cells on Utex pulp produced by cold leaching. Satisfactory loadings were obtained. (auth)

  14. Comprehensive evaluation on effective leaching of critical metals from spent lithium-ion batteries.

    PubMed

    Gao, Wenfang; Liu, Chenming; Cao, Hongbin; Zheng, Xiaohong; Lin, Xiao; Wang, Haijuan; Zhang, Yi; Sun, Zhi

    2018-05-01

    Recovery of metals from spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) has attracted worldwide attention because of issues from both environmental impacts and resource supply. Leaching, for instance using an acidic solution, is a critical step for effective recovery of metals from spent LIBs. To achieve both high leaching efficiency and selectivity of the targeted metals, improved understanding on the interactive features of the materials and leaching solutions is highly required. However, such understanding is still limited at least caused by the variation on physiochemical properties of different leaching solutions. In this research, a comprehensive investigation and evaluation on the leaching process using acidic solutions to recycle spent LIBs is carried out. Through analyzing two important parameters, i.e. leaching speed and recovery rate of the corresponding metals, the effects of hydrogen ion concentration, acid species and concentration on these two parameters were evaluated. It was found that a leachant with organic acids may leach Co and Li from the cathode scrap and leave Al foil as metallic form with high leaching selectivity, while that with inorganic acids typically leach all metals into the solution. Inconsistency between the leaching selectivity and efficiency during spent LIBs recycling is frequently noticed. In order to achieve an optimal status with both high leaching selectivity and efficiency (especially at high solid-to-liquid ratios), it is important to manipulate the average leaching speed and recovery rate of metals to optimize the leaching conditions. Subsequently, it is found that the leaching speed is significantly dependent on the hydrogen ion concentration and the capability of releasing hydrogen ions of the acidic leachant during leaching. With this research, it is expected to improve understanding on controlling the physiochemical properties of a leaching solution and to potentially design processes for spent LIBs recycling with high industrial viability. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. A two-step leaching method designed based on chemical fraction distribution of the heavy metals for selective leaching of Cd, Zn, Cu, and Pb from metallurgical sludge.

    PubMed

    Wang, Fen; Yu, Junxia; Xiong, Wanli; Xu, Yuanlai; Chi, Ru-An

    2018-01-01

    For selective leaching and highly effective recovery of heavy metals from a metallurgical sludge, a two-step leaching method was designed based on the distribution analysis of the chemical fractions of the loaded heavy metal. Hydrochloric acid (HCl) was used as a leaching agent in the first step to leach the relatively labile heavy metals and then ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA) was applied to leach the residual metals according to their different fractional distribution. Using the two-step leaching method, 82.89% of Cd, 55.73% of Zn, 10.85% of Cu, and 0.25% of Pb were leached in the first step by 0.7 M HCl at a contact time of 240 min, and the leaching efficiencies for Cd, Zn, Cu, and Pb were elevated up to 99.76, 91.41, 71.85, and 94.06%, by subsequent treatment with 0.2 M EDTA at 480 min, respectively. Furthermore, HCl leaching induced fractional redistribution, which might increase the mobility of the remaining metals and then facilitate the following metal removal by EDTA. The facilitation was further confirmed by the comparison to the one-step leaching method with single HCl or single EDTA, respectively. These results suggested that the designed two-step leaching method by HCl and EDTA could be used for selective leaching and effective recovery of heavy metals from the metallurgical sludge or heavy metal-contaminated solid media.

  16. Recycling of spent lithium-ion battery cathode materials by ammoniacal leaching.

    PubMed

    Ku, Heesuk; Jung, Yeojin; Jo, Minsang; Park, Sanghyuk; Kim, Sookyung; Yang, Donghyo; Rhee, Kangin; An, Eung-Mo; Sohn, Jeongsoo; Kwon, Kyungjung

    2016-08-05

    As the production and consumption of lithium ion batteries (LIBs) increase, the recycling of spent LIBs appears inevitable from an environmental, economic and health viewpoint. The leaching behavior of Ni, Mn, Co, Al and Cu from treated cathode active materials, which are separated from a commercial LIB pack in hybrid electric vehicles, is investigated with ammoniacal leaching agents based on ammonia, ammonium carbonate and ammonium sulfite. Ammonium sulfite as a reductant is necessary to enhance leaching kinetics particularly in the ammoniacal leaching of Ni and Co. Ammonium carbonate can act as a pH buffer so that the pH of leaching solution changes little during leaching. Co and Cu can be fully leached out whereas Mn and Al are hardly leached and Ni shows a moderate leaching efficiency. It is confirmed that the cathode active materials are a composite of LiMn2O4, LiCoxMnyNizO2, Al2O3 and C while the leach residue is composed of LiNixMnyCozO2, LiMn2O4, Al2O3, MnCO3 and Mn oxides. Co recovery via the ammoniacal leaching is believed to gain a competitive edge on convenitonal acid leaching both by reducing the sodium hydroxide expense for increasing the pH of leaching solution and by removing the separation steps of Mn and Al. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  17. Bacterial leaching of waste uranium materials.

    PubMed

    Barbic, F F; Bracilović, D M; Krajincanić, B V; Lucić, J L

    1976-01-01

    The effect of ferrobacteria and thiobacteria on the leaching of waste uranium materials from which 70-80% of uranium was previously leached by classical chemical hydrometallurgical procedure has been investigated. The bacteria used are found in the ore and the mine water of Zletovska River locality, Yugoslavia. Parameters of biological leaching were examined in the laboratory. Leaching conditions were changed with the aim of increasing the amount of uranium leached. The effect of pyrite added to the waste materials before the beginning of leaching has also been examined. Uranium leaching is directly proportional to the composition and number of ferrobacteria and thiobacteria, and increased by almost twice the value obtained from the same starting materials without using bacteria. Increased sulphuric acid concentrations stimulate considerably the rate of leaching. Uranium leaching is increased up to 20% while sulphuric acid consumption is simultaneously decreased by the addition of pyrite. Uranium concentrations in starting waste materials used for leaching were extremely low (0.0278 and 0.372% U) but about 60% recovery of uranium was obtained, with relatively low consumption of sulphuric acid.

  18. Population dynamics and habitat sharing of natural populations of Caenorhabditis elegans and C. briggsae

    PubMed Central

    2012-01-01

    Background The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is a major model organism in laboratory biology. Very little is known, however, about its ecology, including where it proliferates. In the past, C. elegans was mainly isolated from human-made compost heaps, where it was overwhelmingly found in the non-feeding dauer diapause stage. Results C. elegans and C. briggsae were found in large, proliferating populations in rotting plant material (fruits and stems) in several locations in mainland France. Both species were found to co-occur in samples isolated from a given plant species. Population counts spanned a range from one to more than 10,000 Caenorhabditis individuals on a single fruit or stem. Some populations with an intermediate census size (10 to 1,000) contained no dauer larvae at all, whereas larger populations always included some larvae in the pre-dauer or dauer stages. We report on associated micro-organisms, including pathogens. We systematically sampled a spatio-temporally structured set of rotting apples in an apple orchard in Orsay over four years. C. elegans and C. briggsae were abundantly found every year, but their temporal distributions did not coincide. C. briggsae was found alone in summer, whereas both species co-occurred in early fall and C. elegans was found alone in late fall. Competition experiments in the laboratory at different temperatures show that C. briggsae out-competes C. elegans at high temperatures, whereas C. elegans out-competes C. briggsae at lower temperatures. Conclusions C. elegans and C. briggsae proliferate in the same rotting vegetal substrates. In contrast to previous surveys of populations in compost heaps, we found fully proliferating populations with no dauer larvae. The temporal sharing of the habitat by the two species coincides with their temperature preference in the laboratory, with C. briggsae populations growing faster than C. elegans at higher temperatures, and vice at lower temperatures. PMID:22731941

  19. Lysimeter study to investigate the effect of rainfall patterns on leaching of isoproturon.

    PubMed

    Beulke, Sabine; Brown, Colin D; Fryer, Christopher J; Walker, Allan

    2002-01-01

    The influence of five rainfall treatments on water and solute leaching through two contrasting soil types was investigated. Undisturbed lysimeters (diameter 0.25 m, length 0.5 m) from a sandy loam (Wick series) and a moderately structured clay loam (Hodnet series) received autumn applications of the radio-labelled pesticide isoproturon and bromide tracer. Target rainfall plus irrigation from the end of November 1997 to May 1998 ranged from drier to wetter than average (235 to 414 mm); monthly rainfall was varied according to a pre-selected pattern or kept constant (triplicate lysimeters per regime). Leachate was collected at intervals and concentrations of the solutes were determined. Total flow (0.27-0.94 pore volumes) and losses of bromide (3-80% of applied) increased with increasing inputs of water and were larger from the Wick sandy loam than from the Hodnet clay loam soil. Matrix flow appeared to be the main mechanism for transport of isoproturon through the Wick soil whereas there was a greater influence of preferential flow for the Hodnet lysimeters. The total leached load of isoproturon from the Wick lysimeters was 0.02-0.26% of that applied. There was no clear variation in transport processes between the rainfall treatments investigated for this soil and there was an approximately linear relationship (r2 = 0.81) between leached load and total flow. Losses of isoproturon from the Hodnet soil were 0.03-0.39% of applied and there was evidence of enhanced preferential flow in the driest and wettest treatments. Leaching of isoproturon was best described by an exponential relationship between load and total flow (r2 = 0.62). A 45% increase in flow between the two wettest treatments gave a 100% increase in leaching of isoproturon from the Wick soil. For the Hodnet lysimeters, a 35% increase in flow between the same treatments increased herbicide loss by 325%.

  20. Rhizosphere effect of colonizer plant species on the development of soil microbial community during primary succession on postmining sites

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Elhottova, D.; Kristufek, V.; Maly, S.

    2009-07-01

    The impact of pioneer plant species Tussilago farfara on structural, functional, and growth characterization of microbial community colonizing the spoil colliery substrate was studied in a laboratory microcosm experiment. Microcosms consisting of spoil substrate (0.7 dm{sup 3} of tertiary alkaline clay sediment from Sokolov brown-coal mine area) from a pioneer site (without vegetation, 5 years after heaping) were cultivated in a greenhouse with one plant of this species. Plant roots substantially increased microbial diversity and biomass after one season (7 months) of cultivation. Roots influenced the microbial community and had nearly twice the size, higher growth, and metabolic potential inmore » comparison to the control. The development of microbial specialists improves the plant nutrient status. Bacterial nitrogen (N{sub 2}) fixators (Bradyrhizobium japonicum, Rhizobium radiobacter) and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi were confirmed in the rhizosphere of Tussilago farfara.« less

  1. Power-law regularities in human language

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mehri, Ali; Lashkari, Sahar Mohammadpour

    2016-11-01

    Complex structure of human language enables us to exchange very complicated information. This communication system obeys some common nonlinear statistical regularities. We investigate four important long-range features of human language. We perform our calculations for adopted works of seven famous litterateurs. Zipf's law and Heaps' law, which imply well-known power-law behaviors, are established in human language, showing a qualitative inverse relation with each other. Furthermore, the informational content associated with the words ordering, is measured by using an entropic metric. We also calculate fractal dimension of words in the text by using box counting method. The fractal dimension of each word, that is a positive value less than or equal to one, exhibits its spatial distribution in the text. Generally, we can claim that the Human language follows the mentioned power-law regularities. Power-law relations imply the existence of long-range correlations between the word types, to convey an especial idea.

  2. Pesticide leaching through sandy and loamy fields - long-term lessons learnt from the Danish Pesticide Leaching Assessment Programme.

    PubMed

    Rosenbom, Annette E; Olsen, Preben; Plauborg, Finn; Grant, Ruth; Juhler, René K; Brüsch, Walter; Kjær, Jeanne

    2015-06-01

    The European Union authorization procedure for pesticides includes an assessment of the leaching risk posed by pesticides and their degradation products (DP) with the aim of avoiding any unacceptable influence on groundwater. Twelve-year's results of the Danish Pesticide Leaching Assessment Programme reveal shortcomings to the procedure by having assessed leaching into groundwater of 43 pesticides applied in accordance with current regulations on agricultural fields, and 47 of their DP. Three types of leaching scenario were not fully captured by the procedure: long-term leaching of DP of pesticides applied on potato crops cultivated in sand, leaching of strongly sorbing pesticides after autumn application on loam, and leaching of various pesticides and their DP following early summer application on loam. Rapid preferential transport that bypasses the retardation of the plow layer primarily in autumn, but also during early summer, seems to dominate leaching in a number of those scenarios. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. Microbiological Leaching of Metallic Sulfides

    PubMed Central

    Razzell, W. E.; Trussell, P. C.

    1963-01-01

    The percentage of chalcopyrite leached in percolators by Thiobacillus ferrooxidans was dependent on the surface area of the ore but not on the amount. Typical examples of ore leaching, which demonstrate the role of the bacteria, are presented. In stationary fermentations, changes in KH2PO4 concentration above or below 0.1% decreased copper leaching as did reduction in the MgSO4·7H2O and increase in the (NH4)2SO4 concentration. Bacterial leaching of chalcopyrite was more effective than nonbiological leaching with ferric sulfate; ferric sulfate appeared to retard biological leaching, but this effect was likely caused by formation of an insoluble copper-iron complex. Ferrous sulfate and sodium chloride singly accentuated both bacterial and nonbiological leaching of chalcocite but jointly depressed bacterial action. Sodium chloride appeared to block bacterial iron oxidation without interfering with sulfide oxidation. Bacterial leaching of millerite, bornite, and chalcocite was greatest at pH 2.5. The economics of leaching a number of British Columbia ore bodies was discussed. PMID:16349627

  4. Investigation of the leaching behavior of lead in stabilized/solidified waste using a two-year semi-dynamic leaching test.

    PubMed

    Xue, Qiang; Wang, Ping; Li, Jiang-Shan; Zhang, Ting-Ting; Wang, Shan-Yong

    2017-01-01

    Long-term leaching behavior of contaminant from stabilization/solidification (S/S) treated waste stays unclear. For the purpose of studying long-term leaching behavior and leaching mechanism of lead from cement stabilized soil under different pH environment, semi-dynamic leaching test was extended to two years to investigate leaching behaviors of S/S treated lead contaminated soil. Effectiveness of S/S treatment in different scenarios was evaluated by leachability index (LX) and effective diffusion coefficient (D e ). In addition, the long-term leaching mechanism was investigated at different leaching periods. Results showed that no significant difference was observed among the values of the cumulative release of Pb, D e and LX in weakly alkaline and weakly acidic environment (pH value varied from 5.00 to 10.00), and all the controlling leaching mechanisms of the samples immersed in weakly alkaline and weakly acidic environments turned out to be diffusion. Strong acid environment would significantly affect the leaching behavior and leaching mechanism of lead from S/S monolith. The two-year variation of D e appeared to be time dependent, and D e values increased after the 210 th day in weakly alkaline and weakly acidic environment. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. Deforming Etna's Basement: Implications for Edifice stability.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bakker, Richard; Benson, Philip; Vinciguerra, Sergio

    2013-04-01

    At over 3 kilometers in height, Mt. Etna (Italy) is the largest volcano of continental Europe. The volcano formed on top of the alpine fold and thrust belt, with basaltic outflows lying unconformably on top of an alternation between sandstones, limestones and clays. Presently Etna's eastern flank is moving with speeds up to 2cm/yr to the east [Tibaldi and Groppelli, 2002]. It is the sequence of layers below the volcano that is thought to provide a complex, structurally controlled, mechanism to the volcano deformation as a whole. This is due to the interplay of gravitational forces, volcanic pressurization, and regional tectonics, which combine to play a complex role that remains poorly understood, especially when the physical and mechanical properties of the rocks are considered. In this study, we concentrate on the rock mechanical component, and in particular the formation known as Comiso Limestone. This limestone forms of one of the key lithologies of Etna's basement. The formation has been suggested to be affected by thermal weakening [Heap et al., 2013]. Previous work on Comiso Limestone suggests brittle behavior for the range of temperatures (up to 760 ˚C) and a significant reduction in strength with higher temperatures. [Mollo et al., 2011]. Chiodini et al [2011], speculate carbonate assimilation. This implies that the Carbondioxide created by decarbonatization, is able to escape. Using an internally heated "Paterson" type pressure vessel, we recreated conditions at 2-4 km depth (50-100 MPa) and using an anomalously high geotherm, as expected in volcanic settings (ranging from room to 600 ˚C). With the addition of confining pressure, we show a brittle to ductile transition occurs at a relatively low temperature of 300 ˚C. A significant decrease in strength occurs when the rock is exposed to temperatures exceeding 400 ˚C. In addition, we observe a significant difference in mechanical behavior between vented and unvented situations when decarbonatization is active (>500 ˚C). As shown by Gudmundsson [2011] a large contrast in mechanical properties between two formations could cause dyke arrest or deflection. Contacts between the Comiso Limestone (overall ductile at depth) and extruded basalt flows (overall brittle) could very well facilitate such a locality, and such 'layering' will form part of future laboratory investigations. References: Chiodini, G., S. Caliro, A. Aiuppa, R. Avino, D. Granieri, R. Moretti, and F. Parello (2011), First 13C/12C isotopic characterisation of volcanic plume CO2, Bulletin of Volcanology, 73(5), 531-542. Gudmundsson, A. (2011), Deflection of dykes into sills at discontinuities and magma-chamber formation, Tectonophysics, 500(1-4), 50-64. Heap, M. J., S. Mollo, S. Vinciguerra, Y. Lavallée, K. U. Hess, D. B. Dingwell, P. Baud, and G. Iezzi (2013), Thermal weakening of the carbonate basement under Mt. Etna volcano (Italy): Implications for volcano instability, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 250(0), 42-60. Mollo, S., S. Vinciguerra, G. Iezzi, A. Iarocci, P. Scarlato, M. J. Heap, and D. B. Dingwell (2011), Volcanic edifice weakening via devolatilization reactions, Geophysical Journal International, 186(3), 1073-1077. Tibaldi, A., and G. Groppelli (2002), Volcano-tectonic activity along structures of the unstable NE flank of Mt. Etna (Italy) and their possible origin, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 115(3-4), 277-302.

  6. Leaching of PAHs from agricultural soils treated with oil shale combustion ash: an experimental study.

    PubMed

    Jefimova, Jekaterina; Adamson, Jasper; Reinik, Janek; Irha, Natalya

    2016-10-01

    The present study focuses on the fate of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in soils amended with oil shale ash (OSA). Leachability studies to assess the release of PAHs to the environment are essential before the application of OSA in agriculture. A quantitative estimation of the leaching of PAHs from two types of soil and two types of OSA was undertaken in this study. Two leaching approaches were chosen: (1) a traditional one step leaching scheme and (2) a leaching scheme with pretreatment, i.e.., incubation of the material in wet conditions imitating the field conditions, followed by a traditional leaching procedure keeping the total amount of water constant. The total amount of PAHs leached from soil/OSA mixtures was in the range of 15 to 48 μg/kg. The amount of total PAHs leached was higher for the incubation method, compared to the traditional leaching method, particularly for Podzolic Gleysols soil. This suggests that for the incubation method, the content of organic matter and clay minerals of the soil influence the fate of PAHs more strongly compared to the traditional leaching scheme. The amount of PAHs leached from OSA samples is higher than from soil/OSA mixtures, which suggests soils to inhibit the release of PAHs. Calculated amount of PAHs from experimental soil and OSA leaching experiments differed considerably from real values. Thus, it is not possible to estimate the amount of PAHs leached from soil/OSA mixtures based on the knowledge of the amount of PAHs leached from soil and OSA samples separately.

  7. Heavy Metal Leaching as Affected by Long-Time Organic Waste Fertilizer Application.

    PubMed

    Lekfeldt, Jonas Duus Stevens; Holm, Peter E; Kjærgaard, Charlotte; Magid, Jakob

    2017-07-01

    The recycling of urban waste products as fertilizers in agriculture may introduce contaminants such as heavy metals into soil that may leach and contaminate groundwater. In the present study, we investigated the leaching of heavy metals from intact soil cores collected in the long-term agricultural field trial CRUCIAL. At the time of sampling, the equivalent of >100 yr of urban waste fertilizers following Danish legislation had been applied. The leaching of Cu was significantly increased in the treatments receiving organic waste products compared with the unfertilized control but remained below the permissible level following Danish drinking water guidelines. The leaching of Cu was controlled primarily by the topsoil Cu content and by the leaching of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) but at the same time significantly correlated with leaching of colloids in soils that had not received fertilizer or had received an organic fertilizer with a low concentration of Cu. The leaching of Zn, Cd, and Co was not significantly increased in urban waste-fertilized treatments. The leaching of Mo was elevated in accelerated waste treatments (both agricultural and urban), and the leaching of Mo was linked to the leaching of DOC. Since leaching of Cr and Pb was strongly linked to the level of colloid leaching, leaching of these metals was reduced in the urban waste treatments. Overall, the results presented should not raise concern regarding the agricultural use of urban waste products in agriculture as long as the relevant guidelines are followed. Copyright © by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, Inc.

  8. Organic reductants based leaching: A sustainable process for the recovery of valuable metals from spent lithium ion batteries.

    PubMed

    Chen, Xiangping; Guo, Chunxiu; Ma, Hongrui; Li, Jiazhu; Zhou, Tao; Cao, Ling; Kang, Duozhi

    2018-05-01

    It is significant to recover metal values from spent lithium ion batteries (LIBs) for the alleviation or prevention of potential risks towards environmental pollution and public health, as well as for the conservation of valuable metals. Herein a hydrometallurgical process was proposed to explore the possibility for the leaching of different metals from waste cathodic materials (LiCoO 2 ) of spent LIBs using organics as reductant in sulfuric acid medium. According to the leaching results, about 98% Co and 96% Li can be leached under the optimal experimental conditions of reaction temperature - 95 °C, reaction time - 120 min, reductive agent dosage - 0.4 g/g, slurry density - 25 g/L, concentration of sulfuric acid-3 mol/L in H 2 SO 4  + glucose leaching system. Similar results (96% Co and 100% Li) can be obtained in H 2 SO 4  + sucrose leaching system under optimized leaching conditions. Despite a complete leaching of Li (∼100%), only 54% Co can be dissolved in the H 2 SO 4  + cellulose leaching system under optimized leaching conditions. Finally, different characterization methods, including UV-Vis, FT-IR, SEM and XRD, were employed for the tentative exploration of reductive leaching reactions using organic as reductant in sulfuric acid medium. All the leaching and characterization results confirm that both glucose and sucrose are effective reductants during leaching, while cellulose should be further degraded to organics with low molecular weights to achieve a satisfactory leaching performance. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. LEACHING BOUNDARY MOVEMENT IN SOLIDIFIED/STABILIZED WASTE FORMS

    EPA Science Inventory

    Investigation of the leaching of cement-based waste forms in acetic acid solutions found that acids attacked the waste form from the surface toward the center. A sharp leaching boundary was identified in every leached sample, using pH color indica- tors. The movement of the leach...

  10. Combinatory approach for developing silk fibroin scaffolds for cartilage regeneration.

    PubMed

    Ribeiro, Viviana P; da Silva Morais, Alain; Maia, F Raquel; Canadas, Raphael F; Costa, João B; Oliveira, Ana L; Oliveira, Joaquim M; Reis, Rui L

    2018-05-01

    Several processing technologies and engineering strategies have been combined to create scaffolds with superior performance for efficient tissue regeneration. Cartilage tissue is a good example of that, presenting limited self-healing capacity together with a high elasticity and load-bearing properties. In this work, novel porous silk fibroin (SF) scaffolds derived from horseradish peroxidase (HRP)-mediated crosslinking of highly concentrated aqueous SF solution (16 wt%) in combination with salt-leaching and freeze-drying methodologies were developed for articular cartilage tissue engineering (TE) applications. The HRP-crosslinked SF scaffolds presented high porosity (89.3 ± 0.6%), wide pore distribution and high interconnectivity (95.9 ± 0.8%). Moreover, a large swelling capacity and favorable degradation rate were observed up to 30 days, maintaining the porous-like structure and β-sheet conformational integrity obtained with salt-leaching and freeze-drying processing. The in vitro studies supported human adipose-derived stem cells (hASCs) adhesion, proliferation, and high glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) synthesis under chondrogenic culture conditions. Furthermore, the chondrogenic differentiation of hASCs was assessed by the expression of chondrogenic-related markers (collagen type II, Sox-9 and Aggrecan) and deposition of cartilage-specific extracellular matrix for up to 28 days. The cartilage engineered constructs also presented structural integrity as their mechanical properties were improved after chondrogenic culturing. Subcutaneous implantation of the scaffolds in CD-1 mice demonstrated no necrosis or calcification, and deeply tissue ingrowth. Collectively, the structural properties and biological performance of these porous HRP-crosslinked SF scaffolds make them promising candidates for cartilage regeneration. In cartilage tissue engineering (TE), several processing technologies have been combined to create scaffolds for efficient tissue repair. In our study, we propose novel silk fibroin (SF) scaffolds derived from enzymatically crosslinked SF hydrogels processed by salt-leaching and freeze-drying technologies, for articular cartilage applications. Though these scaffolds, we were able to combine the elastic properties of hydrogel-based systems, with the stability, resilience and controlled porosity of scaffolds processed via salt-leaching and freeze-drying technologies. SF protein has been extensively explored for TE applications, as a result of its mechanical strength, elasticity, biocompatibility, and biodegradability. Thus, the structural, mechanical and biological performance of the proposed scaffolds potentiates their use as three-dimensional matrices for cartilage regeneration. Copyright © 2018 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. EDTA-assisted leaching of Pb and Cd from contaminated soil.

    PubMed

    Qiao, Jiangbo; Sun, Huimin; Luo, Xiuhua; Zhang, Wang; Mathews, Shiny; Yin, Xianqiang

    2017-01-01

    Lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) contamination of soil and its harmful effects on human and environmental health have been one concern. In this study, batch and column leaching experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of two EDTA-assisted leaching methods, continuous and intermittent (dry-wet alternate), on the removal of Pb and Cd from contaminated soil. Total content and fractions of Pb and Cd at every 1 cm soil column depth were analyzed before and after the leaching. The results indicated that continuous leaching removed 75.43% of Pb (19.370 mg) and 53.21% of Cd (6.168 mg) and intermittent leaching removed 78.08% of Pb (20.051 mg) and 57.37% of Cd (6.650 mg), which showed intermittent leaching removed more Pb and Cd, but didn't differ significantly (P > 0.05) compared to the continuous leaching. In both leaching methods, total Pb and Cd content in all soil depths reduced after leaching. The two leaching methods made no significant differences in Pb and Cd distributions at different depths of the soil column. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Selective leaching of Zn from spent alkaline batteries using environmentally friendly approaches.

    PubMed

    Maryam Sadeghi, S; Vanpeteghem, Guillaumme; Neto, Isabel F F; Soares, Helena M V M

    2017-02-01

    The main aim of this work was to evaluate the possibility of using microwave or ultrasound to assist the efficient and selective leaching of Zn from spent alkaline batteries and compare the results with those obtained using the conventional method. Two different strategies were applied: acid leaching of a washed residue and alkaline leaching of the original residue. In both (acid and alkaline) approaches, the use of microwave- or ultrasound-assisted leaching increased the extraction of Zn compared with the best results obtained using conventional leaching [acid leaching (1.5mol/L H 2 SO 4 , 3h, 80°C), 90% of Zn extracted; alkaline leaching (6mol/L NaOH, 3h, 80°C), 42% of Zn extracted]. With acid leaching, 94% of the Zn was extracted using microwave-assisted leaching (1 cycle, 30s, 1mol/L H 2 SO 4 ), and 92% of the Zn was extracted using ultrasound-assisted leaching (2min, 0.1p, 20% amplitude, 1mol/L H 2 SO 4 ). Ultrasound-assisted leaching resulted in a more selective (Zn/Mn ratio of 5.1) Zn extraction than microwave-assisted leaching (Zn/Mn ratio of 3.5); both processes generated a concentrated Zn solution (⩾18.7g/L) with a purity (83.3% and 77.7%, respectively) that was suitable for electrowinning. With alkaline leaching, microwave- (1 cycle, 3 min, 4mol/L NaOH) and ultrasound-assisted (14min, 0.1p, 20% amplitude, 4mol/L NaOH) leaching extracted about 80% of the Zn and less than 0.01% of the Mn, which resulted in lesser concentrated Zn solutions (approximately 16.5g/L) but with high purity (>99.5%) that was suitable for the recovery of Zn by precipitation. The microwave- and ultrasound-assisted leaching strategies used in this work proved to be efficient and environmentally-friendly approaches for the extraction of Zn from spent alkaline residues since a concentrated Zn solution with adequate purity for subsequent Zn recovery was obtained using significantly decreased leaching times and concentrations of chemicals. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. Fractionation of iron isotopes during leaching of natural particles by acidic and circumneutral leaches and development of an optimal leach for marine particulate iron isotopes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Revels, Brandi N.; Zhang, Ruifeng; Adkins, Jess F.; John, Seth G.

    2015-10-01

    Iron (Fe) is an essential nutrient for life on land and in the oceans. Iron stable isotope ratios (δ56Fe) can be used to study the biogeochemical cycling of Fe between particulate and dissolved phases in terrestrial and marine environments. We have investigated the dissolution of Fe from natural particles both to understand the mechanisms of Fe dissolution, and to choose a leach appropriate for extracting labile Fe phases of marine particles. With a goal of finding leaches which would be appropriate for studying dissolved-particle interactions in an oxic water column, three particle types were chosen including oxic seafloor sediments (MESS-3), terrestrial dust (Arizona Test Dust - A2 Fine), and ocean sediment trap material from the Cariaco basin. Four leaches were tested, including three acidic leaches similar to leaches previously applied to marine particles and sediments (25% acetic acid, 0.01 N HCl, and 0.5 N HCl) and a pH 8 oxalate-EDTA leach meant to mimic the dissolution of particles by organic complexation, as occurs in natural seawater. Each leach was applied for three different times (10 min, 2 h, 24 h) at three different temperatures (25 °C, 60 °C, 90 °C). MESS-3 was also leached under various redox conditions (0.02 M hydroxylamine hydrochloride or 0.02 M hydrogen peroxide). For all three sample types tested, we find a consistent relationship between the amount of Fe leached and leachate δ56Fe for all of the acidic leaches, and a different relationship between the amount of Fe leached and leachate δ56Fe for the oxalate-EDTA leach, suggesting that Fe was released through proton-promoted dissolution for all acidic leaches and by ligand-promoted dissolution for the oxalate-EDTA leach. Fe isotope fractionations of up to 2‰ were observed during acidic leaching of MESS-3 and Cariaco sediment trap material, but not for Arizona Test Dust, suggesting that sample composition influences fractionation, perhaps because Fe isotopes are greatly fractionated during leaching of silicates and clays but only minimally fractionated during dissolution of Fe oxyhydroxides. Two different analytical models were developed to explain the relationship between amount of Fe leached and δ56Fe, one of which assumes mixing between two Fe phases with different δ56Fe and different dissolution rates, and the other of which assumes dissolution of a single phase with a kinetic isotope effect. We apply both models to fit results from the acidic leaches of MESS-3 and find that the fit for both models is very similar, suggesting that isotope data will never be sufficient to distinguish between these two processes for natural materials. Next, we utilize our data to choose an optimal leach for application to marine particles. The oxalate-EDTA leach is well-suited to this purpose because it does not greatly fractionate Fe isotopes for a diversity of particle types over a wide variety of leaching conditions, and because it approximates the conditions by which particulate Fe dissolves in the oceans. We recommend a 2 h leach at 90 °C with 0.1 M oxalate and 0.05 M EDTA at pH 8 to measure labile ;ligand-leachable; particulate δ56Fe on natural marine materials with a range of compositions.

  14. Teaching Pablo Neruda and Bei Dao: The Lens of Leaving.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lichtenstein, Amanda Leigh

    2003-01-01

    Explains how the author invites young poets to tromp through the landscape of their minds in search of all things broken by using two of her favorite poems: Pablo Neruda's "Ode to Broken Things" and Bei Dao's "Comet." Outlines how the students write their own poems dealing with loss. Notes that for poets, a heap of broken images becomes an immense…

  15. The Falling Chain of Hopkins, Tait, Steele and Cayley

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wong, Chun Wa; Youn, Seo Ho; Yasui, Kosuke

    2007-01-01

    A uniform, flexible and frictionless chain falling link by link from a heap by the edge of a table falls with an acceleration g/3 if the motion is nonconservative, but g/2 if the motion is conservative, g being the acceleration due to gravity. Unable to construct such a falling chain, we use instead higher-dimensional versions of it. A home…

  16. Statistical tests and measures for the presence and influence of digit preference

    Treesearch

    Jay Beaman; Grenier Michel

    1998-01-01

    Digit preference which is really showing preference for certain numbers has often described as the heaping or rounding of responses to numbers ending in zero or five. Number preference, NP, has been a topic in the social science literature for some years. However, until recently concepts were not adequately rigorously specified to allow, for example, the estimation of...

  17. Heap pumps marketing problems and the role played by the financial incentives provided by the law 308/82

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dallavalle, E.; Piantoni, E.

    The principle techno-economic factors which influence the utilization of heat pumps are examined. Through the analysis of current technology and the economic incentives expected from articles 6-7, 8-9, and 12 of law 308/82, some results are derived which give some indication of the future of the market.

  18. Can the collapse of a fly ash heap develop into an air-fluidized flow? - Reanalysis of the Jupille accident (1961)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Stilmant, Frédéric; Pirotton, Michel; Archambeau, Pierre; Erpicum, Sébastien; Dewals, Benjamin

    2015-01-01

    A fly ash heap collapse occurred in Jupille (Liege, Belgium) in 1961. The subsequent flow of fly ash reached a surprisingly long runout and had catastrophic consequences. Its unprecedented degree of fluidization attracted scientific attention. As drillings and direct observations revealed no water-saturated zone at the base of the deposits, scientists assumed an air-fluidization mechanism, which appeared consistent with the properties of the material. In this paper, the air-fluidization assumption is tested based on two-dimensional numerical simulations. The numerical model has been developed so as to focus on the most prominent processes governing the flow, with parameters constrained by their physical interpretation. Results are compared to accurate field observations and are presented for different stages in the model enhancement, so as to provide a base for a discussion of the relative influence of pore pressure dissipation and pore pressure generation. These results show that the apparently high diffusion coefficient that characterizes the dissipation of air pore pressures is in fact sufficiently low for an important degree of fluidization to be maintained during a flow of hundreds of meters.

  19. Natural revegetation of alkaline tailing heaps at Taxco, Guerrero, Mexico.

    PubMed

    Cortés-Jiménez, E V; Mugica-Alvarez, V; González-Chávez, M C A; Carrillo-González, R; Martínez Gordillo, M; Vaca Mier, M

    2013-01-01

    The aim of this research was to identify adapted native plant species with potential for use in phytoremediation of a metalliferous mine tailings heap in Guerrero, Mexico. Physicochemical characterization, total, DTPA-extractable and fractionation of metals in rhizospheric and non-rhizopheric samples were carried out to gain information about their potential risks. Metal concentrations in plant and bioconcentration factors (BCF) were also determined. Organic matter (OM) and total N contents were higher in the rhizospheric samples, which could improve the conditions for plant establishment. Total Cu, Zn, and Pb concentration were above those for normal soils. The highest metals concentration was found in the residual and organic fractions. Eleven plant species were recorded at the site; three behaved as metal accumulator plants: Gnaphalium chartaceum (accumulator of Cu, Mn, Zn, and Ph), Wigandia urens and Senecio salignus (1027 and 2477 mg kg(-1) of Zn). These species and Brickellia sp. presented high Pb-BCF; they may be suitable for metals phytoextraction. Seven species behaved as excluder plants; Guardiola tulocarpus, Juniperus flaccida, and Ficus goldmanii, presented low BCFs. These species are well suited to cope with the toxic conditions, and they could be propagated for revegetation and stabilization of these residues and to decrease metal bioavailability.

  20. Genomic and metagenomic challenges and opportunities for bioleaching: a mini-review.

    PubMed

    Cárdenas, Juan Pablo; Quatrini, Raquel; Holmes, David S

    2016-09-01

    High-throughput genomic technologies are accelerating progress in understanding the diversity of microbial life in many environments. Here we highlight advances in genomics and metagenomics of microorganisms from bioleaching heaps and related acidic mining environments. Bioleaching heaps used for copper recovery provide significant opportunities to study the processes and mechanisms underlying microbial successions and the influence of community composition on ecosystem functioning. Obtaining quantitative and process-level knowledge of these dynamics is pivotal for understanding how microorganisms contribute to the solubilization of copper for industrial recovery. Advances in DNA sequencing technology provide unprecedented opportunities to obtain information about the genomes of bioleaching microorganisms, allowing predictive models of metabolic potential and ecosystem-level interactions to be constructed. These approaches are enabling predictive phenotyping of organisms many of which are recalcitrant to genetic approaches or are unculturable. This mini-review describes current bioleaching genomic and metagenomic projects and addresses the use of genome information to: (i) build metabolic models; (ii) predict microbial interactions; (iii) estimate genetic diversity; and (iv) study microbial evolution. Key challenges and perspectives of bioleaching genomics/metagenomics are addressed. Copyright © 2016 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.. All rights reserved.

  1. Armeria maritima from a calamine heap--initial studies on physiologic-metabolic adaptations to metal-enriched soil.

    PubMed

    Olko, A; Abratowska, A; Zyłkowska, J; Wierzbicka, M; Tukiendorf, A

    2008-02-01

    Plants of Armeria maritima are found both on unpolluted sites and on soils strongly polluted with heavy metals. Seedlings of A. maritima from a zinc-lead calamine heap in ore-mining region (Bolesław population) and from unpolluted area (Manasterz population) were tested to determine the zinc, cadmium and lead tolerance. In hydroponic experiments Bolesław population was more tolerant to zinc, cadmium and lead. Localization of heavy metals in roots was determined using the histochemical method for detecting metal-complexes with dithizone. Their accumulation was found in root hairs, rhizoderma and at the surface of the central cylinder. Glutathione level in plants increased after metal treatment of both populations. However, its high level was not correlated with phytochelatin production. These metal-binding complexes were not detected in plants exposed to zinc, cadmium or lead. Changes of organic acids concentrations in Armeria treated with metals may suggest their role in metal translocation from roots to shoots. The content of organic acids, especially malate, decreased in the roots and increased in the leaves. These changes may be important in Pb-tolerance of Manasterz population and in Zn-, Cd-tolerance of calamine population from Bolesław.

  2. Development of porous lamellar poly(L-lactic acid) scaffolds by conventional injection molding process.

    PubMed

    Ghosh, Satyabrata; Viana, Júlio C; Reis, Rui L; Mano, João F

    2008-07-01

    A novel fabrication technique is proposed for the preparation of unidirectionally oriented, porous scaffolds by selective polymer leaching from lamellar structures created by conventional injection molding. The proof of the concept is implemented using a 50/50 wt.% poly(L-lactic acid)/poly(ethylene oxide) (PLLA/PEO) blend. With this composition, the PLLA and PEO blend is biphasic, containing a homogeneous PLLA/PEO phase and a PEO-rich phase. The two phases were structured using injection molding into well-defined alternating layers of homogeneous PLLA/PEO phase and PEO-rich phase. Leaching of water-soluble PEO from the PEO-rich phase produces macropores, and leaching of phase-separated PEO from the initially homogeneous PLLA/PEO phase produces micropores in the lamellae. Thus, scaffolds with a macroporous lamellar architecture with microporous walls can be produced. The lamellae are continuous along the flow direction, and a continuous lamellar thickness of less than 1 microm could be achieved. Porosities of 57-74% and pore sizes of around 50-100 microm can be obtained using this process. The tensile elastic moduli of the porous constructs were between 580 and 800 MPa. We propose that this organic-solvent-free method of preparing lamellar scaffolds with good mechanical properties, and the reproducibility associated with the injection molding technique, holds promise for a wide range of guided tissue engineering applications.

  3. Leaching of TCIPP from furniture foam is rapid and substantial.

    PubMed

    Stubbings, William A; Harrad, Stuart

    2018-02-01

    A series of laboratory experiments were conducted, in which waste furniture polyurethane foam samples containing tris (1-chloro-2-propyl) phosphate (TCIPP) were contacted with a range of leaching fluids, formulated to simulate the composition of landfill leachate. Leaching was examined under a number of different scenarios, such as: dissolved humic matter concentration, pH, and temperature, as well as the effect of agitation, and waste:leaching fluid contact duration. In addition to single batch (no replenishment of leaching fluid), serial batch (draining of leachate and replenishment with fresh leaching fluid at various time intervals) experiments were conducted. Leaching of TCIPP from PUF appears to be a first order process. Concentrations of TCIPP in leachate generated by the experiments in this study ranged from 13 mg L -1 to 130 mg L -1 . In serial batch leaching experiments, >95% of TCIPP was depleted from PUF after 168 h total contact with leaching fluid. Our experiments indicate leaching is potentially a very significant pathway of TCIPP emissions to the environment. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  4. Topologically Micropatterned Collagen and Poly(ε-caprolactone) Struts Fabricated Using the Poly(vinyl alcohol) Fibrillation/Leaching Process To Develop Efficiently Engineered Skeletal Muscle Tissue.

    PubMed

    Kim, Minseong; Kim, WonJin; Kim, GeunHyung

    2017-12-20

    Optimally designed three-dimensional (3D) biomedical scaffolds for skeletal muscle tissue regeneration pose significant research challenges. Currently, most studies on scaffolds focus on the two-dimensional (2D) surface structures that are patterned in the micro-/nanoscales with various repeating sizes and shapes to induce the alignment of myoblasts and myotube formation. The 2D patterned surface clearly provides effective analytical results of pattern size and shape of the myoblast alignment and differentiation. However, it is inconvenient in terms of the direct application for clinical usage due to the limited thickness and 3D shapeability. Hence, the present study suggests an innovative hydrogel or synthetic structure that consists of uniaxially surface-patterned cylindrical struts for skeleton muscle regeneration. The alignment of the pattern on the hydrogel (collagen) and poly(ε-caprolactone) struts was attained with the fibrillation of poly(vinyl alcohol) and the leaching process. Various cell culture results indicate that the C2C12 cells on the micropatterned collagen structure were fully aligned, and that a significantly high level of myotube formation was achieved when compared to the collagen structures that were not treated with the micropatterning process.

  5. Leaching of DOC, DN, and inorganic constituents from scrap tires.

    PubMed

    Selbes, Meric; Yilmaz, Ozge; Khan, Abdul A; Karanfil, Tanju

    2015-11-01

    One concern for recycle and reuse of scrap tires is the leaching of tire constituents (organic and inorganic) with time, and their subsequent potential harmful impacts in environment. The main objective of this study was to examine the leaching of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), dissolved nitrogen (DN), and selected inorganic constituents from scrap tires. Different sizes of tire chips and crumb rubber were exposed to leaching solutions with pH's ranging from 3.0 to 10.0 for 28days. The leaching of DOC and DN were found to be higher for smaller size tire chips; however, the leaching of inorganic constituents was independent of the size. In general, basic pH conditions increased the leaching of DOC and DN, whereas acidic pH conditions led to elevated concentrations of metals. Leaching was minimal around the neutral pH values for all the monitored parameters. Analysis of the leaching rates showed that components associated with the rubbery portion of the tires (DOC, DN, zinc, calcium, magnesium, etc.) exhibited an initial rapid followed by a slow release. On the other hand, a constant rate of leaching was observed for iron and manganese, which are attributed to the metal wires present inside the tires. Although the total amounts that leached varied, the observed leaching rates were similar for all tire chip sizes and leaching solutions. Operation under neutral pH conditions, use of larger size tire chips, prewashing of tires, and removal of metal wires prior to application will reduce the impact of tire recycle and reuse. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. Leaching characteristics of arsenic and selenium from coal fly ash: role of calcium

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Tian Wang; Jianmin Wang; Yulin Tang

    2009-05-15

    Understanding the leaching behavior of arsenic (As) and selenium (Se) in coal fly ash is important in evaluating the potential environmental impact of coal fly ash. Batch experiments were employed to systematically investigate the leaching behavior of As and Se in two major types of coal fly ashes, bituminous coal ash and sub-bituminous coal ash, and to determine the underlying processes that control As and Se leaching. The effects of pH, solid/liquid (S/L) ratio, calcium addition, and leaching time on the release of As and Se were studied. Overall, bituminous coal ash leached significantly more As and Se than sub-bituminousmore » coal ash, and Se was more readily leachable, in both absolute concentration and relative fraction, than As for both types of fly ashes. Adsorption/desorption played a major role on As and Se leaching from bituminous coal ashes. However, calcium precipitation played the most important role in reducing As and Se leaching from sub-bituminous coal ashes in the entire experimental pH range. The leaching of As and Se from bituminous coal ashes generally increased with increases in the S/L ratio and leaching time. However, for sub-bituminous coal ashes, the leaching of As was not detected under most experimental conditions, while the leaching of Se increased with increases in the S/L ratio and leaching time. As{sup V} and Se{sup IV} were found to be the major species in all ash leachates in this study. 46 refs., 7 figs., 1 tab.« less

  7. The structure of reconstructed chalcopyrite surfaces

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Thinius, Sascha; Islam, Mazharul M.; Bredow, Thomas

    2018-03-01

    Chalcopyrite (CuFeS2) surfaces are of major interest for copper exploitation in aqueous solution, called leaching. Since leaching is a surface process knowledge of the surface structure, bonding pattern and oxidation states is important for improving the efficiency. At present such information is not available from experimental studies. Therefore a detailed computational study of chalcopyrite surfaces is performed. The structures of low-index stoichiometric chalcopyrite surfaces {hkl} h, k, l ∈ {0, 1, 2} have been studied with density functional theory (DFT) and global optimization strategies. We have applied ab initio molecular dynamics (MD) in combination with simulated annealing (SA) in order to explore possible reconstructions via a minima hopping (MH) algorithm. In almost all cases reconstruction involving substantial rearrangement has occurred accompanied by reduction of the surface energy. The analysis of the change in the coordination sphere and migration during reconstruction reveals that S-S dimers are formed on the surface. Further it was observed that metal atoms near the surface move toward the bulk forming metal alloys passivated by sulfur. The obtained surface energies of reconstructed surfaces are in the range of 0.53-0.95 J/m2.

  8. High-performance porous polylactide stereocomplex crystallite scaffolds prepared by solution blending and salt leaching.

    PubMed

    Xie, Yan; Lan, Xiao-Rong; Bao, Rui-Ying; Lei, Yang; Cao, Zhi-Qiang; Yang, Ming-Bo; Yang, Wei; Wang, Yun-Bing

    2018-09-01

    Biodegradable stereocomplex crystallite polylactide (SC-PLA) porous scaffolds with well-defined pore structures, high heat resistance, mechanical strength, and solvent resistance together with good biocompatibility, were obtained through solution casting of mixed poly(l-lactide) and poly(d-lactide) solution and subsequent leaching of sodium chloride particles. The pore structure of the SC-PLA scaffolds can be perfectly maintained after a high-pressure sterilization treatment at 121 °C, owing to the extensive formation of stereocomplex crystallites in the scaffolds. In vivo pilot study demonstrates that the fibroblasts of rats can infiltrate into the SC-PLA scaffolds well through the open pores. Degradation tests in phosphate-buffered saline solution reveal that the structure of SC-PLA scaffolds was quite stable due to the enhanced hydrolysis-resistance and improved mechanical properties of the scaffolds. These results reveal that SC-PLA scaffolds with good biocompatibility are potentially to be used as implanted biomaterials for the regeneration and restoration of tissues or organs. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  9. Hemimorphite Ores: A Review of Processing Technologies for Zinc Extraction

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, Ailiang; Li, Mengchun; Qian, Zhen; Ma, Yutian; Che, Jianyong; Ma, Yalin

    2016-10-01

    With the gradual depletion of zinc sulfide ores, exploration of zinc oxide ores is becoming more and more important. Hemimorphite is a major zinc oxide ore, attracting much attention in the field of zinc metallurgy although it is not the major zinc mineral. This paper presents a critical review of the treatment for extraction of zinc with emphasis on flotation, pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical methods based on the properties of hemimorphite. The three-dimensional framework structure of hemimorphite with complex linkage of its structural units lead to difficult desilicification before extracting zinc in the many metallurgical technologies. It is found that the flotation method is generally effective in enriching zinc minerals from hemimorphite ores into a high-grade concentrate for recovery of zinc. Pure zinc can be produced from hemimorphite or/and willemite with a reducing reagent, like methane or carbon. Leaching reagents, such as acid and alkali, can break the complex structure of hemimorphite to release zinc in the leached solution without generation of silica gel in the hydrometallurgical process. For optimal zinc extraction, combing flotation with pyrometallurgical or hydrometallurgical methods may be required.

  10. CHARACTERIZATION OF ACTINIDES IN SIMULATED ALKALINE TANK WASTE SLUDGES AND LEACHATES

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Nash, Kenneth L.

    In this project, both the fundamental chemistry of actinides in alkaline solutions (relevant to those present in Hanford-style waste storage tanks), and their dissolution from sludge simulants (and interactions with supernatants) have been investigated under representative sludge leaching procedures. The leaching protocols were designed to go beyond conventional alkaline sludge leaching limits, including the application of acidic leachants, oxidants and complexing agents. The simulant leaching studies confirm in most cases the basic premise that actinides will remain in the sludge during leaching with 2-3 M NaOH caustic leach solutions. However, they also confirm significant chances for increased mobility of actinidesmore » under oxidative leaching conditions. Thermodynamic data generated improves the general level of experiemental information available to predict actinide speciation in leach solutions. Additional information indicates that improved Al removal can be achieved with even dilute acid leaching and that acidic Al(NO3)3 solutions can be decontaminated of co-mobilized actinides using conventional separations methods. Both complexing agents and acidic leaching solutions have significant potential to improve the effectiveness of conventional alkaline leaching protocols. The prime objective of this program was to provide adequate insight into actinide behavior under these conditions to enable prudent decision making as tank waste treatment protocols develop.« less

  11. Preparation of Rutile from Ilmenite Concentrate Through Pressure Leaching with Hydrochloric Acid

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xiang, Junyi; Liu, Songli; Lv, Xuewei; Bai, Chenguang

    2017-04-01

    Take into account the fact that the natural rutile utilized for the production of titanium dioxide pigment through chloride process is desperately lacking worldwide especially in China, an attempt was exploited for extracting synthetic rutile from Yunnan ilmenite concentrate with hydrochloric acid pressure leaching process. The leaching parameters for one step leaching process were investigated. The results shown that the optimum condition is leaching temperature of 413 K (140 °C), acid concentration of 20 pct HCl, leaching time of 4 hours and liquid/solid mass ratio of 8:1. A two steps leaching process was also suggested to reutilize the leaching liquor which with a high content of HCl. The results showed that the content of HCl decreased from 135 to 75 g/L, total iron increased from 44.5 g/L to about 87.6 g/L, and the liquid/solid mass ratio decreased to 5:1 with a two steps leaching process. The leaching product produced through a two steps leaching process shows a pure golden red with a high content of titanium (92.65 pct TiO2), a relatively low content of calcium (0.10 pct CaO) and magnesium (0.12 pct MgO), but high content of silicon (5.72 pct SiO2).

  12. Comparison of ultrasound-assisted and traditional caustic leaching of spent cathode carbon (SCC) from aluminum electrolysis.

    PubMed

    Xiao, Jin; Yuan, Jie; Tian, Zhongliang; Yang, Kai; Yao, Zhen; Yu, Bailie; Zhang, Liuyun

    2018-01-01

    The spent cathode carbon (SCC) from aluminum electrolysis was subjected to caustic leaching to investigate the different effects of ultrasound-assisted and traditional methods on element fluorine (F) leaching rate and leaching residue carbon content. Sodium hydroxide (NaOH) dissolved in deionized water was used as the reaction system. Through single-factor experiments and a comparison of two leaching techniques, the optimum F leaching rate and residue carbon content for ultrasound-assisted leaching process were obtained at a temperature of 70°C, residue time of 40min, initial mass ratio of alkali to SCC (initial alkali-to-material ratio) of 0.6, liquid-to-solid ratio of 10mL/g, and ultrasonic power of 400W, respectively. Under the optimal conditions, the leaching residue carbon content was 94.72%, 2.19% larger than the carbon content of traditional leaching residue. Leaching wastewater was treated with calcium chloride (CaCl 2 ) and bleaching powder and the treated wastewater was recycled caustic solution. All in all, benefiting from advantage of the ultrasonication effects, ultrasound-assisted caustic leaching on spent cathode carbon had 55.6% shorter residue time than the traditional process with a higher impurity removal rate. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  13. Leaching boundary movement in solidified/stabilized waste forms

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Kuang Ye Cheng; Bishop, P.L.

    1992-02-01

    Investigation of the leaching of cement-based waste forms in acetic acid solutions found that acids attacked the waste form from the surface toward the center. A sharp leaching boundary was identified in every leached sample, using pH color indicators. The movement of the leaching boundary was found to be a single diffusion-controlled process.

  14. Leaching of metals from large pieces of printed circuit boards using citric acid and hydrogen peroxide.

    PubMed

    Jadhav, Umesh; Su, C; Hocheng, Hong

    2016-12-01

    In the present study, the leaching of metals from large pieces of computer printed circuit boards (CPCBs) was studied. A combination of citric acid (0.5 M) and 1.76 M hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) was used to leach the metals from CPCB piece. The influence of system variables such as H 2 O 2 concentration, concentration of citric acid, shaking speed, and temperature on the metal leaching process was investigated. The complete metal leaching was achieved in 4 h from a 4 × 4 cm CPCB piece. The presence of citric acid and H 2 O 2 together in the leaching solution is essential for complete metal leaching. The optimum addition amount of H 2 O 2 was 5.83 %. The citric acid concentration and shaking speed had an insignificant effect on the leaching of metals. The increase in the temperature above 30 °C showed a drastic effect on metal leaching process.

  15. Leaching Behavior of Heavy Metals from Cement Pastes Using a Modified Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP).

    PubMed

    Huang, Minrui; Feng, Huajun; Shen, Dongsheng; Li, Na; Chen, Yingqiang; Shentu, Jiali

    2016-03-01

    As the standard toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP) can not exhaust the acid neutralizing capacity of the cement rotary kiln co-processing solid wastes products which is particularly important for the assessment of the leaching concentrations of heavy metals. A modified TCLP was proposed. The extent of leaching of heavy metals is low using the TCLP and the leaching performance of the different metals can not be differentiated. Using the modified TCLP, however, Zn leaching was negligible during the first 180 h and then sharply increased (2.86 ± 0.18 to 3.54 ± 0.26 mg/L) as the acidity increased (pH < 6.0). Thus, Zn leaching is enhanced using the modified TCLP. While Pb leached readily during the first 126 h and then leachate concentrations decreased to below the analytical detection limit. To conclude, this modified TCLP is a more suitable method for these cement rotary kiln co-processing products.

  16. Gold Leaching Characteristics and Intensification of a High S and As-Bearing Gold Concentrate

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yang, Yong-bin; Liu, Xiao-liang; Jiang, Tao; Li, Qian; Xu, Bin; Zhang, Yan

    Some high sulfur and arsenic-bearing gold concentrate has a gold leaching rate less than 80% by oxidation roasting-pickling-cyanidation process. The characteristics and intensification of gold leaching were studied systemically. By combining chemical composition and phase analysis, the low gold leaching rate was found to lie in the capsulation of gold by iron-containing phases including iron oxides, arsenopyrite and pyrite. 96.66% of gold in the industrial leaching residue was capsulated and 95.88% of the capsulated turned out to be in the iron-containing phases. The results of laboratory pickling-cyanidation experiments on the calcine and industrial leaching residue presented further demonstration for the fact that gold capsulated in the iron-containing phases was hard to be leached. However, the gold cyanide leaching rate of calcine could be raised over 95% by a reduction roasting-pickling pretreatment which played such a significant role in exposing the capsulated gold that gold leaching was intensified remarkably.

  17. Experimental and numerical analysis of metal leaching from fly ash-amended highway bases

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Cetin, Bora; Aydilek, Ahmet H., E-mail: aydilek@umd.edu; Li, Lin

    2012-05-15

    Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer This study is the evaluation of leaching potential of fly ash-lime mixed soils. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer This objective is met with experimental and numerical analysis. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Zn leaching decreases with increase in fly ash content while Ba, B, Cu increases. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Decrease in lime content promoted leaching of Ba, B and Cu while Zn increases. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Numerical analysis predicted lower field metal concentrations. - Abstract: A study was conducted to evaluate the leaching potential of unpaved road materials (URM) mixed with lime activated high carbon fly ashes and to evaluate groundwater impacts of barium, boron, copper, and zinc leaching. Thismore » objective was met by a combination of batch water leach tests, column leach tests, and computer modeling. The laboratory tests were conducted on soil alone, fly ash alone, and URM-fly ash-lime kiln dust mixtures. The results indicated that an increase in fly ash and lime content has significant effects on leaching behavior of heavy metals from URM-fly ash mixture. An increase in fly ash content and a decrease in lime content promoted leaching of Ba, B and Cu whereas Zn leaching was primarily affected by the fly ash content. Numerically predicted field metal concentrations were significantly lower than the peak metal concentrations obtained in laboratory column leach tests, and field concentrations decreased with time and distance due to dispersion in soil vadose zone.« less

  18. Environmental implications of material leached from coal.

    PubMed

    Moyo, Stanley; Mujuru, Munyaradzi; McCrindle, Rob I; Mokgalaka-Matlala, Ntebogeng

    2011-05-01

    Samples of coal were collected from different seams at a South African coal mine and comparative leaching experiments were carried out under various pH conditions and times to investigate the leaching behavior and potential environmental impact of possibly hazardous elements such as As, Cd, Co, Cr, Mn, Ni, Pb, Th and U. The calculated leaching intensities, sequential extraction results and cumulative percentages demonstrate that the leaching behavior of the elements is strongly influenced by the pH, the leaching time and the properties and occurrences of the elements. The leached concentrations of As, Cd, Co, Cr, Mn, Ni and Pb exceeded the maximum concentrations recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for surface water.

  19. Impacts of road salts on leaching behavior of lead contaminated soil.

    PubMed

    Wu, Jingjing; Kim, Hwidong

    2017-02-15

    Research was conducted to explore the effects of road salts on lead leaching from lead contaminated soil samples that were collected in an old residence area in Erie, PA. The synthetic precipitate leaching procedure (SPLP) test was employed to evaluate lead leaching from one of the lead contaminated soils in the presence of various levels of road salts (5%, 10%, 20%, 30% and 40%). The results of the leaching test showed that lead leaching dramatically increased as the road salt content increased as a result of the formation of lead-chloride complexes, but different lead leaching patterns were observed in the presence of NaCl- and CaCl 2 -based road salts at a high content of road salts (>20%). Additional leaching tests that include 30% road salts and different soil samples showed a variety of leaching patterns by soil samples. The sequential extraction of each soil sample showed that a high fraction of organic matter bound lead was associated with lead contamination. The higher the fraction of organic matter bound lead contained in soil, the greater the effects of calcium on reducing lead leaching, observations showed. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  20. Bioleaching of vanadium from barren stone coal and its effect on the transition of vanadium speciation and mineral phase

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Xin; Lin, Hai; Dong, Ying-bo; Li, Gan-yu

    2018-03-01

    This study determined the optimal conditions required to obtain maximum vanadium extraction and examined the transition of mineral phases and vanadium speciation during the bioleaching process. Parameters including the initial pH value, initial Fe2+ concentration, solid load, and inoculum quantity were examined. The results revealed that 48.92wt% of the vanadium was extracted through bioleaching under optimal conditions. Comparatively, the chemical leaching yield (H2SO4, pH 2.0) showed a slower and milder increase in vanadium yield. The vanadium bioleaching yield was 35.11wt% greater than the chemical leaching yield. The Community Bureau of Reference (BCR) sequential extraction results revealed that 88.62wt% of vanadium existed in the residual fraction. The bacteria substantially changed the distribution of the vanadium speciation during the leaching process, and the residual fraction decreased to 48.44wt%. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) results provided evidence that the crystal lattice structure of muscovite was destroyed by the bacteria.

  1. Distribution of di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate and products in blood and blood components.

    PubMed Central

    Rock, G; Labow, R S; Tocchi, M

    1986-01-01

    In order to impart flexibility, plastic medical devices incorporate liquid plasticizers into their structure. Data from several laboratories, including ours, have shown that these compounds leach from blood bags and tubing during collection of blood, storage of various blood components and during kidney dialysis and cell and plasma apheresis procedures. After the plasticizer di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate leaches from poly(vinyl chloride) blood packs, it is converted by a plasma enzyme to a more toxic metabolite, mono(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate. Blood fractionation products from outdated plasma contain mono(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, the highest level being found in normal serum albumin. Recently, we have reported that di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate actually binds to the red blood cell membrane and reduces its osmotic fragility. Current methods of red cells storage, which permit utilization up to 35 days after collection, are not possible without this membrane stabilization. Platelets are now stored for 5 days in the Fenwal PL 732 polyolefin bag. Although stated to be essentially free of liquid plasticizers, a significant level of leaching from this bag into the extracts of stored platelet concentrates was observed. PMID:3709456

  2. Direct Detection of Fe(II) in Extracellular Polymeric Substances (EPS) at the Mineral-Microbe Interface in Bacterial Pyrite Leaching

    PubMed Central

    Mitsunobu, Satoshi; Zhu, Ming; Takeichi, Yasuo; Ohigashi, Takuji; Suga, Hiroki; Jinno, Muneaki; Makita, Hiroko; Sakata, Masahiro; Ono, Kanta; Mase, Kazuhiko; Takahashi, Yoshio

    2016-01-01

    We herein investigated the mechanisms underlying the contact leaching process in pyrite bioleaching by Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans using scanning transmission X-ray microscopy (STXM)-based C and Fe near edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) analyses. The C NEXAFS analysis directly showed that attached A. ferrooxidans produces polysaccharide-abundant extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) at the cell-pyrite interface. Furthermore, by combining the C and Fe NEXAFS results, we detected significant amounts of Fe(II), in addition to Fe(III), in the interfacial EPS at the cell-pyrite interface. A probable explanation for the Fe(II) in detected EPS is the leaching of Fe(II) from the pyrite. The detection of Fe(II) also indicates that Fe(III) resulting from pyrite oxidation may effectively function as an oxidizing agent for pyrite at the cell-pyrite interface. Thus, our results imply that a key role of Fe(III) in EPS, in addition to its previously described role in the electrostatic attachment of the cell to pyrite, is enhancing pyrite dissolution. PMID:26947441

  3. Near East/South Asia Report

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1985-06-11

    3 Apr 85) 140 Saudi Defense Minister on Military Industrialization (Riyadh Domestic Service, 14 May 8^5) 150 Saudi Interior Minister on Drug ...influence and through cheating, collusion and bribery to conclude contracts with the public agencies, through smuggling and trafficking in drugs ...lethality radius of 5m and the M-433 HEAP (for High Explosive Armour Piercing) fragmentation round can pierce over 6cm of steel armour. Contraves

  4. Memory Subsystem Performance of Programs with Intensive Heap Allocation

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1993-12-13

    implroves all organiizatiotns. However Ilie imliprove- nient in going from one- way to t)two- wav set associa i vi; v is, tit1c ucl uialler t hal iil( tleil...simulating multi-cyclh instnlctiomis. we ca-nnot (let ,rmine their exa(’ct pen al il PIA. 26 Program ] Total I Div [I Midi F Add F Sub F Div F NIni CW 0.00

  5. Controlling mechanisms of metals release form cement-based waste form in acetic acid solution

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Cheng, Kuang Ye.

    1991-01-01

    The purpose of this dissertation is to identify the individual leaching mechanisms of metals by knowing the pH profile within the leached specimen and the physical and chemical properties of the leached material. Leaching of cement-based waste form in acetic acid solutions with different acidic strengths has been investigated in this work. The pH profile along the acid penetration route in the cement-based waste form was identified by various pH color indicators. The pH in the surface altered layer varies from 5.0 to 6.0, which is very close to the pH in the bulk leachate. A reacting zone, where themore » pH abruptly changes from 6 to 12, sharply divides the altered surface layer from the remaining unleached waste form or kernel. Leaching of metals is controlled by the acidity available in the leachant. Dissolution of alkaline materials leaves a silica-rich layer on the surface of the cement-based waste form. This surface layer exhibits different properties than those of the unleached material. The surface layer has a higher water content, is lighter weight, and is soft and friable. Furthermore, the abundant silicate content on the solid surface detains portion of the leached metals, while they are moving through the leached layer into bulk solution. The leaching of metals is a consequence of acid penetration. The distance from the solid/solution interface to the front of the leaching boundary can be regarded as the depth of leaching zone, where the metals dissolve and diffuse out of the waste form. The metal ions diffuse through the leached layer may be retarded on the solid surface by the pH-dependent adsorption reactions. It is found that the leaching process through the leached layer is diffusion-controlled for calcium and cadmium, whereas diffusion and adsorption occur simultaneously in the leached layer for lead and arsenic.« less

  6. Model-based coefficient method for calculation of N leaching from agricultural fields applied to small catchments and the effects of leaching reducing measures

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kyllmar, K.; Mårtensson, K.; Johnsson, H.

    2005-03-01

    A method to calculate N leaching from arable fields using model-calculated N leaching coefficients (NLCs) was developed. Using the process-based modelling system SOILNDB, leaching of N was simulated for four leaching regions in southern Sweden with 20-year climate series and a large number of randomised crop sequences based on regional agricultural statistics. To obtain N leaching coefficients, mean values of annual N leaching were calculated for each combination of main crop, following crop and fertilisation regime for each leaching region and soil type. The field-NLC method developed could be useful for following up water quality goals in e.g. small monitoring catchments, since it allows normal leaching from actual crop rotations and fertilisation to be determined regardless of the weather. The method was tested using field data from nine small intensively monitored agricultural catchments. The agreement between calculated field N leaching and measured N transport in catchment stream outlets, 19-47 and 8-38 kg ha -1 yr -1, respectively, was satisfactory in most catchments when contributions from land uses other than arable land and uncertainties in groundwater flows were considered. The possibility of calculating effects of crop combinations (crop and following crop) is of considerable value since changes in crop rotation constitute a large potential for reducing N leaching. When the effect of a number of potential measures to reduce N leaching (i.e. applying manure in spring instead of autumn; postponing ploughing-in of ley and green fallow in autumn; undersowing a catch crop in cereals and oilseeds; and increasing the area of catch crops by substituting winter cereals and winter oilseeds with corresponding spring crops) was calculated for the arable fields in the catchments using field-NLCs, N leaching was reduced by between 34 and 54% for the separate catchments when the best possible effect on the entire potential area was assumed.

  7. Ranking Coal Ash Materials for Their Potential to Leach Arsenic and Selenium: Relative Importance of Ash Chemistry and Site Biogeochemistry

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Schwartz, Grace E.; Hower, James C.; Phillips, Allison L.

    The chemical composition of coal ash is highly heterogeneous and dependent on the origin of the source coal, combustion parameters, and type and configuration of air pollution control devices. This heterogeneity results in uncertainty in the evaluation of leaching potential of contaminants from coal ash. The goal of this work was to identify whether a single leaching protocol could roughly group high-leaching potential coal ash from low-leaching potential coal ash, with respect to arsenic (As) and selenium (Se). We used four different leaching tests, including the Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Protocol (TCLP), natural pH, aerobic sediment microcosms, and anaerobic sediment microcosmsmore » on 10 different coal ash materials, including fly ash, lime-treated ash, and flue gas desulfurization materials. Leaching tests showed promise in categorizing high and low-leaching potential ash materials, indicating that a single point test could act as a first screening measure to identify high-risk ash materials. However, the amount of contaminant leached varied widely across tests, reflecting the importance of ambient conditions (pH, redox state) on leaching. These results demonstrate that on-site geochemical conditions play a critical role in As and Se mobilization from coal ash, underscoring the need to develop a situation-based risk assessment framework for contamination by coal ash pollutants.« less

  8. Use of adjuvants to minimize leaching of herbicides in soil

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Alva, Ashok K.; Singh, Megh

    1991-03-01

    Excessive leaching of herbicides affects their efficacy against target weeds and results in contamination of groundwater. Use of adjuvants that can weakly bind herbicides and in turn release them slowly is a valuable technique to prolong the efficacy of herbicides and to minimize their leaching into groundwater. Effects of activated charcoal, three humic substances (Enersol SP 85%, Enersol 12%, and Agroliz), or a synthetic polymer (Hydrosorb) on the leaching of bromacil, dicamba, and simazine were investigated in leaching columns using a Candler fine sand (Typic Quartzipsamment). The addition of adjuvants had no harmful effects on physical properties of the soil as evident from lack of its affects on water percolation. When no adjuvants were used, 69%, 37%, and 4% of applied dicamba, bromacil, and simazine, respectively, were leached in the first pore volume of leachate (⋍3.2 cm rainfall). With five pore volumes of leachate (⋍16 cm rainfall), bromacil and dicamba were leached completely and only 80% of simazine was leached. Using Enersol 12% adjuvant resulted in a 13%-18% reduction in leaching of dicamba and bromacil in five pore volumes of leachate. The leaching of simazine was significantly decreased when any of the five adjuvants mentioned above were used. However, the decrease in leaching was significantly greater when using Enersol SP 85% or Enersol 12% (24%-28%) than when using the other adjuvants (12%-16%).

  9. Ranking Coal Ash Materials for Their Potential to Leach Arsenic and Selenium: Relative Importance of Ash Chemistry and Site Biogeochemistry

    DOE PAGES

    Schwartz, Grace E.; Hower, James C.; Phillips, Allison L.; ...

    2018-01-23

    The chemical composition of coal ash is highly heterogeneous and dependent on the origin of the source coal, combustion parameters, and type and configuration of air pollution control devices. This heterogeneity results in uncertainty in the evaluation of leaching potential of contaminants from coal ash. The goal of this work was to identify whether a single leaching protocol could roughly group high-leaching potential coal ash from low-leaching potential coal ash, with respect to arsenic (As) and selenium (Se). We used four different leaching tests, including the Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Protocol (TCLP), natural pH, aerobic sediment microcosms, and anaerobic sediment microcosmsmore » on 10 different coal ash materials, including fly ash, lime-treated ash, and flue gas desulfurization materials. Leaching tests showed promise in categorizing high and low-leaching potential ash materials, indicating that a single point test could act as a first screening measure to identify high-risk ash materials. However, the amount of contaminant leached varied widely across tests, reflecting the importance of ambient conditions (pH, redox state) on leaching. These results demonstrate that on-site geochemical conditions play a critical role in As and Se mobilization from coal ash, underscoring the need to develop a situation-based risk assessment framework for contamination by coal ash pollutants.« less

  10. Uranium contents in plants and mushrooms grown on a uranium-contaminated site near Ronneburg in Eastern Thuringia/Germany.

    PubMed

    Baumann, Nils; Arnold, Thuro; Haferburg, Götz

    2014-01-01

    Uranium concentrations in cultivated (sunflower, sunchoke, potato) and native plants, plant compartment specimens, and mushrooms, grown on a test site within a uranium-contaminated area in Eastern Thuringia, were analyzed and compared. This test site belongs to the Friedrich-Schiller University Jena and is situated on the ground of a former but now removed uranium mine waste leaching heap. For determination of the U concentrations in the biomaterials, the saps of the samples were squeezed out by using an ultracentrifuge, after that, the uranium concentrations in the saps and the remaining residue were measured, using ICP-MS. The study further showed that uranium concentrations observed in plant compartment and mushroom fruiting bodies sap samples were always higher than their associated solid residue sample. Also, it was found that the detected uranium concentration in the root samples were always higher than were observed in their associated above ground biomass, e.g., in shoots, leaves, blossoms etc. The highest uranium concentration was measured with almost 40 ppb U in a fruiting body of a mushroom and in roots of butterbur. However, the detected uranium concentrations in plants and mushrooms collected in this study were always lower than in the associated surface and soil water of the test site, indicating that under the encountered natural conditions, none of the studied plant and mushroom species turned out to be a hyperaccumulator for uranium, which could have extracted uranium in sufficient amounts out of the uranium-contaminated soil. In addition, it was found that the detected uranium concentrations in the sap samples, despite being above the sensitivity limit, proved to be too low-in combination with the presence of fluorescence quenching substances, e.g., iron and manganese ions, and/or organic quenchers-to extract a useful fluorescence signal, which could have helped to identify the uranium speciation in plants.

  11. Historic mills and mill tailings as potential sources of contamination in and near the Humboldt River basin, northern Nevada. Chapter D.

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Nash, J. Thomas; Stillings, Lisa L.

    2003-01-01

    Reconnaissance field studies of 40 mining districts in and near the Humboldt River basin have identified 83 mills and associated tailings impoundments and several other kinds of mineral-processing facilities (smelters, mercury retorts, heap-leach pads) related to historic mining. The majority of the mills and tailings sites are not recorded in the literature. All tailings impoundments show evidence of substantial amounts of erosion. At least 11 tailings dams were breached by flood waters, carrying fluvial tailings 1 to 15 km down canyons and across alluvial fans. Most of the tailings sites are dry most of the year, but some are near streams. Tailings that are wet for part of the year do not appear to be reacting significantly with those waters because physical factors such as clay layers and hard-pan cement appear to limit permeability and release of metals to surface waters. The major impact of mill tailings on surface- water quality may be brief flushes of runoff during storm events that carry acid and metals released from soluble mineral crusts. Small ephemeral ponds and puddles that tend to collect in trenches and low areas on tailings impoundments tend to be acidic and extremely enriched in metals, in part through cycles of evaporation. Ponded water that is rich in salts and metals could be acutely toxic to unsuspecting animals. Rare extreme storms have the potential to cause catastrophic failure of tailings impoundments, carry away metals in stormwaters, and transport tailings as debris flows for 1 to 15 km. In most situations these stormwaters and transported tailings could impact wildlife but probably would impact few or no people or domes-tic water wells. Because all identified historic tailings sites are several kilometers or more from the Humboldt River and major tributaries, tailings probably have no measurable impact on water quality in the main stem of the Humboldt River.

  12. Electrical Resistance Tomography to Monitor Mitigation of Metal-Toxic Acid-Leachates Ruby Gulch Waste Rock Repository Gilt Edge Mine Superfund Site, South Dakota USA

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Versteeg, R.; Heath, G.; Richardson, A.; Paul, D.; Wangerud, K.

    2003-12-01

    At a cyanide heap-leach open-pit mine, 15-million cubic yards of acid-generating sulfides were dumped at the head of a steep-walled mountain valley, with 30 inches/year precipitation generating 60- gallons/minute ARD leachate. Remediation has reshaped the dump to a 70-acre, 3.5:1-sloped geometry, installed drainage benches and runoff diversions, and capped the repository and lined diversions with a polyethylene geomembrane and cover system. Monitoring was needed to evaluate (a) long-term geomembrane integrity, (b) diversion liner integrity and long-term effectiveness, (c) ARD geochemistry, kinetics and pore-gas dynamics within the repository mass, and (d) groundwater interactions. Observation wells were paired with a 600-electrode resistivity survey system. Using near-surface and down-hole electrodes and automated data collection and post-processing, periodic two- and three-dimensional resistivity images are developed to reflect current and changed-conditions in moisture, temperature, geochemical components, and flow-direction analysis. Examination of total resistivity values and time variances between images allows direct observation of liner and cap integrity with precise identification and location of leaks; likewise, if runoff migrates from degraded diversion ditches into the repository zone, there is an accompanying and noticeable change in resistivity values. Used in combination with monitoring wells containing borehole resistivity electrodes (calibrated with direct sampling of dump water/moisture, temperature and pore-gas composition), the resistivity arrays allow at-depth imaging of geochemical conditions within the repository mass. The information provides early indications of progress or deficiencies in de-watering and ARD- mitigation that is the remedy intent. If emerging technologies present opportunities for secondary treatment, deep resistivity images may assist in developing application methods and evaluating the effectiveness of any reagents introduced into the repository mass to further effect changes in oxidation/reduction reactions.

  13. PRESERVATIVE LEACHING FROM WEATHERED CCA-TREATED WOOD

    EPA Science Inventory

    Disposal of discarded CCA-treated wood in landfills raises concerns with respect to leaching of preservative compounds. When unweathered CCA-treated wood is leached using the toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP), arsenic concentrations exceed the toxicity characteris...

  14. Kinetic and Mechanism Study of Vanadium Acid Leaching from Black Shale Using Microwave Heating Method

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Jing-peng; Zhang, Yi-min; Huang, Jing; Liu, Tao

    2018-04-01

    The leaching kinetics of the vanadium leaching process were investigated by the comparison of microwave heating and conventional heating methods. Microwave heating with CaF2 had a synergistic effect and improved the vanadium leaching efficiency. In contrast to conventional heating leaching, microwave heating accelerated the vanadium leaching rate by approximately 1-3% and by approximately 15% when CaF2 was also used. The kinetics analysis showed that the calculated activation energy decreased in the microwave heating method in the presence and absence of CaF2. The control procedure of leaching also changed from a chemical reaction control step to a mixed chemical diffusion control step upon the addition of CaF2. Microwave heating was shown to be suitable for leaching systems with diffusion or mixed chemical diffusion control steps when the target mineral does not have a microwave absorbing ability.

  15. Kinetic and Mechanism Study of Vanadium Acid Leaching from Black Shale Using Microwave Heating Method

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Jing-peng; Zhang, Yi-min; Huang, Jing; Liu, Tao

    2018-06-01

    The leaching kinetics of the vanadium leaching process were investigated by the comparison of microwave heating and conventional heating methods. Microwave heating with CaF2 had a synergistic effect and improved the vanadium leaching efficiency. In contrast to conventional heating leaching, microwave heating accelerated the vanadium leaching rate by approximately 1-3% and by approximately 15% when CaF2 was also used. The kinetics analysis showed that the calculated activation energy decreased in the microwave heating method in the presence and absence of CaF2. The control procedure of leaching also changed from a chemical reaction control step to a mixed chemical diffusion control step upon the addition of CaF2. Microwave heating was shown to be suitable for leaching systems with diffusion or mixed chemical diffusion control steps when the target mineral does not have a microwave absorbing ability.

  16. Process development for recovery of copper and precious metals from waste printed circuit boards with emphasize on palladium and gold leaching and precipitation.

    PubMed

    Behnamfard, Ali; Salarirad, Mohammad Mehdi; Veglio, Francesco

    2013-11-01

    A novel hydrometallurgical process was proposed for selective recovery of Cu, Ag, Au and Pd from waste printed circuit boards (PCBs). More than 99% of copper content was dissolved by using two consecutive sulfuric acid leaching steps in the presence of H2O2 as oxidizing agents. The solid residue of 2nd leaching step was treated by acidic thiourea in the presence of ferric iron as oxidizing agent and 85.76% Au and 71.36% Ag dissolution was achieved. The precipitation of Au and Ag from acidic thiourea leachate was investigated by using different amounts of sodium borohydride (SBH) as a reducing agent. The leaching of Pd and remained gold from the solid reside of 3rd leaching step was performed in NaClO-HCl-H2O2 leaching system and the effect of different parameters was investigated. The leaching of Pd and specially Au increased by increasing the NaClO concentration up to 10V% and any further increasing the NaClO concentration has a negligible effect. The leaching of Pd and Au increased by increasing the HCl concentration from 2.5 to 5M. The leaching of Pd and Au were endothermic and raising the temperature had a positive effect on leaching efficiency. The kinetics of Pd leaching was quite fast and after 30min complete leaching of Pd was achieved, while the leaching of Au need a longer contact time. The best conditions for leaching of Pd and Au in NaClO-HCl-H2O2 leaching system were determined to be 5M HCl, 1V% H2O2, 10V% NaClO at 336K for 3h with a solid/liquid ratio of 1/10. 100% of Pd and Au of what was in the chloride leachate were precipitated by using 2g/L SBH. Finally, a process flow sheet for the recovery of Cu, Ag, Au and Pd from PCB was proposed. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Leaching of natural colloids from forest topsoils and their relevance for phosphorus mobility.

    PubMed

    Missong, Anna; Holzmann, Stefan; Bol, Roland; Nischwitz, Volker; Puhlmann, Heike; V Wilpert, Klaus; Siemens, Jan; Klumpp, Erwin

    2018-09-01

    The leaching of P from the upper 20cm of forest topsoils influences nutrient (re-)cycling and the redistribution of available phosphate and organic P forms. However, the effective leaching of colloids and associated P forms from forest topsoils was so far sparsely investigated. We demonstrated through irrigation experiments with undisturbed mesocosm soil columns, that significant proportions of P leached from acidic forest topsoils were associated with natural colloids. These colloids had a maximum size of 400nm. By means of Field-flow fractionation the leached soil colloids could be separated into three size fractions. The size and composition was comparable to colloids present in acidic forest streams known from literature. The composition of leached colloids of the three size classes was dominated by organic carbon. Furthermore, these colloids contained large concentrations of P which amounted between 12 and 91% of the totally leached P depending on the type of the forest soil. The fraction of other elements leached with colloids ranged between 1% and 25% (Fe: 1-25%; C org : 3-17%; Al: <4%; Si, Ca, Mn: all <2%). The proportion of colloid-associated P decreased with increasing total P leaching. Leaching of total and colloid-associated P from the forest surface soil did not increase with increasing bulk soil P concentrations and were also not related to tree species. The present study highlighted that colloid-facilitated P leaching can be of higher relevance for the P leaching from forest surface soils than dissolved P and should not be neglected in soil water flux studies. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  18. Recycling process for recovery of gallium from GaN an e-waste of LED industry through ball milling, annealing and leaching.

    PubMed

    Swain, Basudev; Mishra, Chinmayee; Kang, Leeseung; Park, Kyung-Soo; Lee, Chan Gi; Hong, Hyun Seon

    2015-04-01

    Waste dust generated during manufacturing of LED contains significant amounts of gallium and indium, needs suitable treatment and can be an important resource for recovery. The LED industry waste dust contains primarily gallium as GaN. Leaching followed by purification technology is the green and clean technology. To develop treatment and recycling technology of these GaN bearing e-waste, leaching is the primary stage. In our current investigation possible process for treatment and quantitative leaching of gallium and indium from the GaN bearing e-waste or waste of LED industry dust has been developed. To recycle the waste and quantitative leaching of gallium, two different process flow sheets have been proposed. In one, process first the GaN of the waste the LED industry dust was leached at the optimum condition. Subsequently, the leach residue was mixed with Na2CO3, ball milled followed by annealing, again leached to recover gallium. In the second process, the waste LED industry dust was mixed with Na2CO3, after ball milling and annealing, followed acidic leaching. Without pretreatment, the gallium leaching was only 4.91 w/w % using 4M HCl, 100°C and pulp density of 20g/L. After mechano-chemical processing, both these processes achieved 73.68 w/w % of gallium leaching at their optimum condition. The developed process can treat and recycle any e-waste containing GaN through ball milling, annealing and leaching. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  19. Acid extraction of molybdenum, nickel and cobalt from mineral sludge generated by rainfall water at a metal recycling plant.

    PubMed

    Vemic, M; Bordas, F; Guibaud, G; Comte, S; Joussein, E; Lens, P N L; Van Hullebusch, E D

    2016-01-01

    This study investigated the leaching yields of Mo, Ni and Co from a mineral sludge of a metal recycling plant generated by rainfalls. The investigated mineral sludge had a complex heterogeneous composition, consisting of particles of settled soil combined with metal-bearing particles (produced by catalysts, metallic oxides and battery recycling). The leaching potential of different leaching reagents (stand-alone strong acids (HNO3 (68%), H2SO4 (98%) and HCl (36%)) and acid mixtures (aqua regia (nitric + hydrochloric (1:3)), nitric + sulphuric (1:1) and nitric + sulphuric + hydrochloric (2:1:1)) was investigated at changing operational parameters (solid-liquid (S/L) ratio, leaching time and temperature), in order to select the leaching reagent which achieves the highest metal leaching yields. Sulphuric acid (98% H2SO4) was found to be the leachant with the highest metal leaching potential. The optimal leaching conditions were a three-stage successive leaching at 80 °C with a leaching time of 2 h and S/L ratio of 0.25 g L(-1). Under these conditions, the achieved mineral sludge sample leaching yields were 85.5%, 40.5% and 93.8% for Mo, Ni and Co, respectively. The higher metal leaching potential of H2SO4 in comparison with the other strong acids/acid mixtures is attributed to the fact that H2SO4 is a diacidic compound, thus it has more H(+) ions, resulting in its stronger oxidizing power and corrosiveness.

  20. Gaseous Elemental Mercury and Total and Leached Mercury in Building Materials from the Former Hg-Mining Area of Abbadia San Salvatore (Central Italy)

    PubMed Central

    Vaselli, Orlando; Nisi, Barbara; Rappuoli, Daniele; Cabassi, Jacopo; Tassi, Franco

    2017-01-01

    Mercury has a strong environmental impact since both its organic and inorganic forms are toxic, and it represents a pollutant of global concern. Liquid Hg is highly volatile and can be released during natural and anthropogenic processes in the hydrosphere, biosphere and atmosphere. In this study, the distribution of Gaseous Elemental Mercury (GEM) and the total and leached mercury concentrations on paint, plaster, roof tiles, concrete, metals, dust and wood structures were determined in the main buildings and structures of the former Hg-mining area of Abbadia San Salvatore (Siena, Central Italy). The mining complex (divided into seven units) covers a surface of about 65 ha and contains mining structures and managers’ and workers’ buildings. Nine surveys of GEM measurements were carried out from July 2011 to August 2015 for the buildings and structures located in Units 2, 3 and 6, the latter being the area where liquid mercury was produced. Measurements were also performed in February, April, July, September and December 2016 in the edifices and mining structures of Unit 6. GEM concentrations showed a strong variability in time and space mostly depending on ambient temperature and the operational activities that were carried out in each building. The Unit 2 surveys carried out in the hotter period (from June to September) showed GEM concentrations up to 27,500 ng·m−3, while in Unit 6, they were on average much higher, and occasionally, they saturated the GEM measurement device (>50,000 ng·m−3). Concentrations of total (in mg·kg−1) and leached (in μg·L−1) mercury measured in different building materials (up to 46,580 mg·kg−1 and 4470 mg·L−1, respectively) were highly variable, being related to the edifice or mining structure from which they were collected. The results obtained in this study are of relevant interest for operational cleanings to be carried out during reclamation activities. PMID:28420130

  1. Assessing Metal Mobilization from Industrially Lead-Contaminated Soils Located at an Urban Site

    EPA Science Inventory

    A series of leaching and partitioning tests (Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP), Synthetic Precipitation Leaching Procedure (SPLP), Controlled Acidity Leaching Protocol (CALP), Acid Neutralization Capacity (ANC), and sequential extraction) were applied to three dif...

  2. Investigation on microwave heating for direct leaching of chalcopyrite ores and concentrates

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Onol, Kubra; Saridede, Muhlis Nezihi

    2013-03-01

    The use of microwave energy in materials processing is a relatively new development presenting numerous advantages because of the rapid heating feature. Microwave technology has great potential to improve the extraction efficiency of metals in terms of both a reduction in required leaching time and an increase in the recovery of valuable metals. This method is especially pertinent in view of the increased demand for environment-friendly processes. In the present study, the influence of microwave heating on the direct leaching of chalcopyrite ores and concentrates were investigated. The results of microwave leaching experiments were compared with those obtained under conventional conditions. During these processes, parameters such as leaching media, temperature, and time have been worked to determine the optimum conditions for proper copper dissolution. Experimental results show that microwave leaching is more efficient than conventional leaching. The optimum leaching conditions for microwave leaching are the solid-to-liquid ratio of 1:100 g/mL, the temperature of 140°C, the solution of 0.5 M H2SO4 + 0.05 M Fe2(SO4)3, and the time of 1 h.

  3. Ionic liquids for metal extraction from chalcopyrite: solid, liquid and gas phase studies.

    PubMed

    Kuzmina, O; Symianakis, E; Godfrey, D; Albrecht, T; Welton, T

    2017-08-16

    We studied leaching of Cu and Fe from naturally occurring chalcopyrite ore using aqueous solutions of ionic liquids (ILs) based on imidazolium and ethylammonium cations and hydrogensulfate, nitrate, acetate or dicyanamide anions. Liquid, solid and gas phases of the leaching systems were characterised. We have shown that nonoxidative leaching is greatly dependant not only on temperature and pH, but on the anion species of the IL. Solutions of 1-butylimidazolium hydrogen sulfate exhibited the best leaching performance among hydrogen sulphate ILs. We have suggested that the formation of an oxide layer in some ILs may be responsible for a reduced leaching ability. The analysis of the gas phase showed the production of CO 2 and CS 2 in all leached samples. Our results suggested that the CS 2 produced upon leaching could be responsible for decreasing the sulfur, but not oxide, layer on the surface of chalcopyrite samples and therefore more efficient leaching. This is the first study, to our knowledge, to provide a systematic comparison of the leaching performance of ILs composed of different anions and cations and without added oxidants.

  4. Quantification of the effects of environmental leaching factors on emissions from bottom ash in road construction.

    PubMed

    Ecke, Holger; Aberg, Annika

    2006-06-01

    The re-use of bottom ash in road construction necessitates a tool to predict the impact of trace metals on the surroundings over the lifetime of the road. The aim of this work was to quantify the effect of environmental factors that are supposed to influence leaching, so as to suggest guidelines in developing a leaching procedure for the testing of incineration residues re-used in road constructions. The effects of pH, L/S (liquid-to-solid ratio), leaching time, and leaching atmosphere on the leachate concentrations of Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn were studied using a two-level full factorial design. The most significant factor for all responses was the pH, followed by L/S, though the importance of pH and L/S is often ignored in leaching tests. Multiple linear regression models describing the variation in leaching data had R(2) values ranging from 61-97%. A two-step pH-stat leaching procedure that considers pH as well as L/S and leaching time was suggested.

  5. Characterizing the Leaching Behavior of Coal Combustion Residues using the Leaching Environmental Assessment Framework (LEAF) to Inform Future Management Decisions

    EPA Science Inventory

    Abstract for presentation on Characterizing the Leaching Behavior of Coal Combustion Residues using the Leaching Environmental Assessment Framework (LEAF) to Inform Future Management Decisions. The abstract is attached.

  6. Effect of temperature on iron leaching from bauxite residue by sulfuric acid.

    PubMed

    Liu, Zhi-Rong; Zeng, Kai; Zhao, Wei; Li, Ying

    2009-01-01

    Bauxite residue, as solid waste from alumina production, contains mainly hematite [Fe2O3]. Kinetic study of iron leaching of bauxite residue by diluted sulfuric acid at atmospheric pressure has been investigated. The results have been obtained as following: (i) Temperature play an important role in iron leaching from bauxite residue. Higher temperature is favor of Fe(III) leaching from bauxite residue. (ii) The leaching process is applicable to the intra-particle diffusion model and the apparent activation energy of model of leaching is found to be 17.32 kJ/mol.

  7. Detoxification of mercury pollutant leached from spent fluorescent lamps using bacterial strains.

    PubMed

    Al-Ghouti, Mohammad A; Abuqaoud, Reem H; Abu-Dieyeh, Mohammed H

    2016-03-01

    The spent fluorescent lamps (SFLs) are being classified as a hazardous waste due to having mercury as one of its main components. Mercury is considered the second most toxic heavy metal (arsenic is the first) with harmful effects on animal nervous system as it causes different neurological disorders. In this research, the mercury from phosphor powder was leached, then bioremediated using bacterial strains isolated from Qatari environment. Leaching of mercury was carried out with nitric and hydrochloric acid solutions using two approaches: leaching at ambient conditions and microwave-assisted leaching. The results obtained from this research showed that microwave-assisted leaching method was significantly better in leaching mercury than the acid leaching where the mercury leaching efficiency reached 76.4%. For mercury bio-uptake, twenty bacterial strains (previously isolated and purified from petroleum oil contaminated soils) were sub-cultured on Luria Bertani (LB) plates with mercury chloride to check the bacterial tolerance to mercury. Seven of these twenty strains showed a degree of tolerance to mercury. The bio-uptake capacities of the promising strains were investigated using the mercury leached from the fluorescent lamps. Three of the strains (Enterobacter helveticus, Citrobacter amalonaticus, and Cronobacter muytjensii) showed bio-uptake efficiency ranged from 28.8% to 63.6%. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. Application of hydrometallurgy techniques in quartz processing and purification: a review

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lin, Min; Lei, Shaomin; Pei, Zhenyu; Liu, Yuanyuan; Xia, Zhangjie; Xie, Feixiang

    2018-04-01

    Although there have been numerous studies on separation and purification of metallic minerals by hydrometallurgy techniques, applications of the chemical techniques in separation and purification of non-metallic minerals are rarely reported. This paper reviews disparate areas of study into processing and purification of quartz (typical non-metallic ore) in an attempt to summarize current work, as well as to suggest potential for future consolidation in the field. The review encompasses chemical techniques of the quartz processing including situations, progresses, leaching mechanism, scopes of application, advantages and drawbacks of micro-bioleaching, high temperature leaching, high temperature pressure leaching and catalyzed high temperature pressure leaching. Traditional leaching techniques including micro-bioleaching and high temperature leaching are unequal to demand of modern glass industry for quality of quartz concentrate because the quartz products has to be further processed. High temperature pressure leaching and catalyzed high temperature pressure leaching provide new ways to produce high-grade quartz sand with only one process and lower acid consumption. Furthermore, the catalyzed high temperature pressure leaching realizes effective purification of quartz with extremely low acid consumption (no using HF or any fluoride). It is proposed that, by integrating the different chemical processes of quartz processing and expounding leaching mechanisms and scopes of application, the research field as a monopolized industry would benefit.

  9. QUANTIFYING HAZARDOUS SPECIES IN PARTICULATE MATTER DERIVED FROM FOSSIL-FUEL COMBUSTION

    EPA Science Inventory

    An analysis protocol that combines X-ray absorption near-edge structure spectroscopy with selective leaching has been developed to examine hazardous species in size- segregated particulate matter (PM) samples derived from the combustion of fossil fuels. The protocol has been used...

  10. Mild process to design silk scaffolds with reduced β-sheet structure and various topographies at nanometer scale

    PubMed Central

    Pei, Yazhen; Liu, Xi; Liu, Shanshan; Lu, Qiang; Liu, Jing; Kaplan, David L; Zhu, Hesun

    2014-01-01

    Three-dimensional (3D) porous silk scaffolds with good biocompatibility and minimal immunogenicity, have promising applications in different tissue regenerations. However, a challenge remains to effectively fabricate their microstructures and mechanical properties to satisfy specific requirements of different tissues. In this study, silk scaffolds were fabricated to form extracellular matrix (ECM) mimetic nanofibrous architecture in a mild process. A slowly increasing concentration process was applied to regulate silk self-assembly into nanofibers in aqueous solution. Then glycerol was blended with the nanofiber solution and induced silk crystallization in lyophilization process, endowing freeze-dried scaffolds water-stability. The glycerol was leached from the scaffolds, leaving similar porous structure at a micrometer scale but different topographies at nanoscale. Compared to previous salt-leached and methanol annealed scaffolds, the present scaffolds showed lower β-sheet content, softer mechanical property, and improved cell growth and differentiation behaviors, implying their promising future as platforms for controlling stem cell fate and soft tissue regeneration. PMID:25463497

  11. Synthesis of porous SnO2 nanocubes via selective leaching and enhanced gas-sensing properties

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, Yining; Wei, Qi; Song, Peng; Wang, Qi

    2016-01-01

    Porous micro-/nanostructures are of great interest in many current and emerging areas of technology. In this paper, porous SnO2 nanocubes have been successfully fabricated via a selective leaching strategy using CoSn(OH)6 as precursor. The structure and morphology of as-prepared samples were investigated by several techniques, such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetric and differential scanning calorimeter analysis (TG⿿DSC), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and N2 adsorption⿿desorption analyses. On the basis of those characterizations, the mechanism for the formation of porous SnO2 nanocubes has been proposed. Owing to the well-defined and uniform porous structures, porous SnO2 nanocubes possessing more adsorbent amount of analytic gas and accelerate the transmission speed so as to enhance the gas-sensing properties. Gas sensing investigation showed that the sensor based on porous SnO2 nanocubes exhibited high response, short response⿿recovery times and good selectivity to ethanol gas.

  12. Speciation analysis and leaching behaviors of selected trace elements in spent SCR catalyst.

    PubMed

    Dai, Zejun; Wang, Lele; Tang, Hao; Sun, Zhijun; Liu, Wei; Sun, Yi; Su, Sheng; Hu, Song; Wang, Yi; Xu, Kai; Liu, Liang; Ling, Peng; Xiang, Jun

    2018-09-01

    This study investigated heavy metal chemical speciation and leaching behavior from a board-type spent selective catalytic reduction (SCR) catalyst containing high concentrations of vanadium, chromium, nickel, copper, zinc, and lead. A three-step sequential extraction method, standard toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP), and leaching characteristic tests have been performed. It was found that the mobility of six heavy metals in the spent SCR catalyst was significantly different. The mobility of the six heavy metals exhibited the following order: Ni > Zn > V > Cr > As > Cu. Meanwhile, TCLP test results revealed relatively high Zn and Cr leaching rate of 83.20% and 10.35%, respectively. It was found that leaching rate was positively correlated with available contents (sum of acid soluble, reducible and oxidizable fractions). Leaching characteristics tests indicated that pH substantially affected the leaching of these heavy metals. In particular, the leaching of Cr, Ni, Cu, and Zn was positively influenced by strong acid, while V and As were easily released in the presence of strong acid and strong alkali (pH < 3 or pH > 11). In terms of kinetics, the leaching of Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, and As within the spent catalyst was dominated by erosion and dissolution processes, which were rapid reaction processes. V was released in large amounts within 1 h, but its leaching amount sharply decreased with time due to readsorption. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. Long-term environmental impacts of building composites containing waste materials: Evaluation of the leaching protocols.

    PubMed

    Drinčić, Ana; Nikolić, Irena; Zuliani, Tea; Milačič, Radmila; Ščančar, Janez

    2017-01-01

    The NEN 7375 test has been proposed for evaluating the long-term environmental impacts caused by the release of contaminants from monolithic building and waste materials. Over a period of 64days, at specific points in time, the leaching solution (demineralised water) is replenished. By applying the NEN 7375 test, leaching of contaminants that is based mainly on diffusion is followed. In the present work, the results from modified leaching protocols were evaluated against those obtained by NEN 7375 test. In modified protocols, synthetic sea, surface and MilliQ water were used for the leaching of selected elements and chromate, molybdate and vanadate from compact and ground building composites (98% mixture of fly ash (80%) and cement (20%), and 2% of electric arc furnace (EAF) dust) over 6months. The leaching solutions were not replenished, imitating both the diffusion and the dissolution of contaminants. The data revealed larger extent of leaching when the leaching solution was not replenished. More extensive was also leaching from ground composites, which simulated the disintegration of the material over time. The composition of the leaching solution influenced the release of the matrix constituents from the composites and, consequently, the amount of elements and their chemical species. Synthetic sea and surface water used as leaching solutions, without replenishing, were found to be suitable to simulate the conditions when the building material is immersed in stagnant environmental waters. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Weber, Paula D.; Flores, Karen A.; Lord, David L.

    Bryan Mound 5 ( BM5 ) and West Hackberry 9 ( WH9 ) have the potential to create a significant amount of new storage space should the caverns be deemed "leach - ready". This study discusses the original drilling history of the caverns, surrounding geology, current stability, and, based on this culmination of data, makes a preliminary assessment of the leach potential for the cavern. The risks associated with leaching BM5 present substantial problems for the SPR . The odd shape and large amount of insoluble material make it difficult to de termine whether a targeted leach would have themore » desired effect and create useable ullage or further distort the shape with preferential leaching . T he likelihood of salt falls and damaged or severed casing string is significant . In addition, a targeted le ach would require the relocation of approximately 27 MMB of oil . Due to the abundance of unknown factors associated with this cavern, a targeted leach of BM5 is not recommended. A targeted leaching of the neck of WH 9 could potentially eliminate or diminis h the mid - cavern ledge result ing in a more stable cavern with a more favorable shape. A better understanding of the composition of the surrounding salt and a less complicated leaching history yields more confidence in the ability to successfully leach this region. A targeted leach of WH9 can be recommended upon the completion of a full leach plan with consideration of the impacts upon nearby caverns .« less

  15. Implementation of the Leaching Environmental Assessment Framework

    EPA Science Inventory

    New leaching tests are available in the U.S. for developing more accurate source terms for use in fate and transport models. For beneficial use or disposal, the use of the leaching environmental assessment framework (LEAF) will provide leaching results that reflect field condit...

  16. A New Generation of Leaching Tests – The Leaching Environmental Assessment Framework

    EPA Science Inventory

    Provides an overview of newly released leaching tests that provide a more accurate source term when estimating environmental release of metals and other constituents of potential concern (COPCs). The Leaching Environmental Assessment Framework (LEAF) methods have been (1) develo...

  17. 40 CFR 411.20 - Applicability; description of the leaching subcategory.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... leaching subcategory. 411.20 Section 411.20 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) EFFLUENT GUIDELINES AND STANDARDS CEMENT MANUFACTURING POINT SOURCE CATEGORY Leaching Subcategory § 411.20 Applicability; description of the leaching subcategory. The provisions of this subpart are...

  18. 40 CFR 411.20 - Applicability; description of the leaching subcategory.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... leaching subcategory. 411.20 Section 411.20 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) EFFLUENT GUIDELINES AND STANDARDS CEMENT MANUFACTURING POINT SOURCE CATEGORY Leaching Subcategory § 411.20 Applicability; description of the leaching subcategory. The provisions of this subpart are...

  19. 40 CFR 411.20 - Applicability; description of the leaching subcategory.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... leaching subcategory. 411.20 Section 411.20 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) EFFLUENT GUIDELINES AND STANDARDS CEMENT MANUFACTURING POINT SOURCE CATEGORY Leaching Subcategory § 411.20 Applicability; description of the leaching subcategory. The provisions of this subpart are...

  20. 40 CFR 411.20 - Applicability; description of the leaching subcategory.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... leaching subcategory. 411.20 Section 411.20 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) EFFLUENT GUIDELINES AND STANDARDS CEMENT MANUFACTURING POINT SOURCE CATEGORY Leaching Subcategory § 411.20 Applicability; description of the leaching subcategory. The provisions of this subpart are...

  1. Extraction of nickel from Ramu laterite by sulphation roasting-water leaching

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Weiwei; Du, Shangchao; Liu, Guo; Tang, Jianwen; Lu, Yeda; Lv, Dong

    2017-08-01

    Recovery of nickel from a PNG nickel laterite with high content of iron by a sulphation roasting-water leaching has been studied. The influences of sulfuric acid/ore ratio, temperature of roasting and water on recovery efficiency were investigated. The effective separation of nickel over the co-existed elements including iron was achieved by the process with mixing, curing, roasting and leaching stages. Near 100% of nickel was leached from the roasted laterite by water at 80°C in an atmospheric air, while co-leaching of about 2% of iron, under the optimal pre-treatment conditions with the ratio of acid: ore around 0.45:1 and the roasting temperature about 650°C. The advantages and disadvantages of sulphation atmospheric leaching are compared with pressure acid leaching with engineering consideration.

  2. Environmental, physical and structural characterisation of geopolymer matrixes synthesised from coal (co-)combustion fly ashes.

    PubMed

    Alvarez-Ayuso, E; Querol, X; Plana, F; Alastuey, A; Moreno, N; Izquierdo, M; Font, O; Moreno, T; Diez, S; Vázquez, E; Barra, M

    2008-06-15

    The synthesis of geopolymer matrixes from coal (co-)combustion fly ashes as the sole source of silica and alumina has been studied in order to assess both their capacity to immobilise the potentially toxic elements contained in these coal (co-)combustion by-products and their suitability to be used as cement replacements. The geopolymerisation process has been performed using (5, 8 and 12 M) NaOH solutions as activation media and different curing time (6-48 h) and temperature (40-80 degrees C) conditions. Synthesised geopolymers have been characterised with regard to their leaching behaviour, following the DIN 38414-S4 [DIN 38414-S4, Determination of leachability by water (S4), group S: sludge and sediments. German standard methods for the examination of water, waste water and sludge. Institut für Normung, Berlin, 1984] and NEN 7375 [NEN 7375, Leaching characteristics of moulded or monolithic building and waste materials. Determination of leaching of inorganic components with the diffusion test. Netherlands Normalisation Institute, Delft, 2004] procedures, and to their structural stability by means of compressive strength measurements. In addition, geopolymer mineralogy, morphology and structure have been studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), respectively. It was found that synthesised geopolymer matrixes were only effective in the chemical immobilisation of a number of elements of environmental concern contained in fly ashes, reducing (especially for Ba), or maintaining their leachable contents after the geopolymerisation process, but not for those elements present as oxyanions. Physical entrapment does not seem either to contribute in an important way, in general, to the immobilisation of oxyanions. The structural stability of synthesised geopolymers was mainly dependent on the glass content of fly ashes, attaining at the optimal activation conditions (12 M NaOH, 48 h, 80 degrees C) compressive strength values about 60 MPa when the fly ash glass content was higher than 90%.

  3. Surfactant-Modified Soil Amendments Reduce Nitrogen and Phosphorus Leaching in a Sand-Based Rootzone.

    PubMed

    Shaddox, Travis W; Kruse, Jason K; Miller, Grady L; Nkedi-Kizza, Peter; Sartain, Jerry B

    2016-09-01

    United States Golf Association putting greens are susceptible to nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) leaching. Inorganic soil amendments are used to increase moisture and nutrient retention and may influence N and P leaching. This study was conducted to determine whether N and P leaching could be reduced using soil amendments and surfactant-modified soil amendments. Treatments included a control (sand), sand-peat, zeolite, calcined clay, hexadecyltrimethylammonium-zeolite, and hexadecyltrimethylammonium-calcined clay. Lysimeters were filled with a 30-cm rootzone layer of sand-peat (85:15 by volume), below which a 5-cm treatment layer of amendments was placed. A solution of NO-N, NH-N, and orthophosphate-P (2300, 2480, and 4400 μg mL, respectively) was injected at the top of each lysimeter, and leachate was collected using an autocollector set to collect a 10-mL sample every min until four pore volumes were collected. Uncoated amendments, sand, and peat had no influence on NO-N retention, whereas hexadecyltrimethylammonium-coated amendments reduced NO-N leaching to below detectable limits. Both coated and uncoated amendments reduced NH-N leaching, with zeolite reducing NH-N leached to near zero regardless of hexadecyltrimethylammonium coating. Pure sand resulted in a 13% reduction of applied orthophosphate-P leaching, whereas peat contributed to orthophosphate-P leaching. Surfactant-modified amendments reduced orthophosphate-P leaching by as much as 97%. Surfactant-modified soil amendments can reduce NO-N, NH-N, and orthophosphate-P leaching and, thus, may be a viable option for removing leached N and P before they enter surface or ground waters. Copyright © by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, Inc.

  4. Leaching behavior of copper from waste printed circuit boards with Brønsted acidic ionic liquid

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Huang, Jinxiu; Chen, Mengjun, E-mail: kyling@swust.edu.cn; Chen, Haiyan

    2014-02-15

    Highlights: • A Brønsted acidic ILs was used to leach Cu from WPCBs for the first time. • The particle size of WPCBs has significant influence on Cu leaching rate. • Cu leaching rate was higher than 99% under the optimum leaching conditions. • The leaching process can be modeled with shrinking core model, and the E{sub a} was 25.36 kJ/mol. - Abstract: In this work, a Brønsted acidic ionic liquid, 1-butyl-3-methyl-imidazolium hydrogen sulfate ([bmim]HSO{sub 4}), was used to leach copper from waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs, mounted with electronic components) for the first time, and the leaching behavior ofmore » copper was discussed in detail. The results showed that after the pre-treatment, the metal distributions were different with the particle size: Cu, Zn and Al increased with the increasing particle size; while Ni, Sn and Pb were in the contrary. And the particle size has significant influence on copper leaching rate. Copper leaching rate was higher than 99%, almost 100%, when 1 g WPCBs powder was leached under the optimum conditions: particle size of 0.1–0.25 mm, 25 mL 80% (v/v) ionic liquid, 10 mL 30% hydrogen peroxide, solid/liquid ratio of 1/25, 70 °C and 2 h. Copper leaching by [bmim]HSO{sub 4} can be modeled with the shrinking core model, controlled by diffusion through a solid product layer, and the kinetic apparent activation energy has been calculated to be 25.36 kJ/mol.« less

  5. [Leaching Remediation of Copper and Lead Contaminated Lou Soil by Saponin Under Different Conditions].

    PubMed

    Deng, Hong-xia; Yang, Ya-li; Li, Zhen; Xu, Yan; Li, Rong-hua; Meng, Zhao-fu; Yang, Ya-ti

    2015-04-01

    In order to investigate the leaching remediation effect of the eco-friendly biosurfactant saponin for Cu and Pb in contaminated Lou soil, batch tests method was used to study the leaching effect of saponin solution on single Cu, Pb contaminated Lou soil and mixed Cu and Pb contaminated Lou soil under different conditions such as reaction time, mass concentration of saponin, pH, concentration of background electrolyte and leaching times. The results showed that the maximum leaching removal effect of Cu and Pb in contaminated Lou soil was achieved by complexation of the heavy metals with saponin micelle, when the mass concentration of saponin solution was 50 g x L(-1), pH was 5.0, the reaction time was 240 min, and there was no background electrolyte. In single and mixed contaminated Lou soil, the leaching percentages of Cu were 29.02% and 25.09% after a single leaching with 50 g x L(-1) saponin under optimal condition, while the single leaching percentages of Pb were 31.56% and 28.03%, respectively. The result indicated the removal efficiency of Pb was more significant than that of Cu. After 4 times of leaching, the cumulative leaching percentages of Cu reached 58.92% and 53.11%, while the cumulative leaching percentages of Pb reached 77.69% and 65.32% for single and mixed contaminated Lou soil, respectively. The fractionation results of heavy metals in soil before and after a single leaching showed that the contents of adsorbed and exchangeable Cu and Pb increased in the contaminated soil, while the carbonate-bound, organic bound and sulfide residual Cu and Pb in the contaminated Lou soil could be effectively removed by saponin.

  6. Spent lithium-ion battery recycling - Reductive ammonia leaching of metals from cathode scrap by sodium sulphite.

    PubMed

    Zheng, Xiaohong; Gao, Wenfang; Zhang, Xihua; He, Mingming; Lin, Xiao; Cao, Hongbin; Zhang, Yi; Sun, Zhi

    2017-02-01

    Recycling of spent lithium-ion batteries has attracted wide attention because of their high content of valuable and hazardous metals. One of the difficulties for effective metal recovery is the separation of different metals from the solution after leaching. In this research, a full hydrometallurgical process is developed to selectively recover valuable metals (Ni, Co and Li) from cathode scrap of spent lithium ion batteries. By introducing ammonia-ammonium sulphate as the leaching solution and sodium sulphite as the reductant, the total selectivity of Ni, Co and Li in the first-step leaching solution is more than 98.6% while it for Mn is only 1.36%. In detail understanding of the selective leaching process is carried out by investigating the effects of parameters such as leaching reagent composition, leaching time (0-480min), agitation speed (200-700rpm), pulp density (10-50g/L) and temperature (323-353K). It was found that Mn is primarily reduced from Mn 4+ into Mn 2+ into the solution as [Formula: see text] while it subsequently precipitates out into the residue in the form of (NH 4 ) 2 Mn(SO 3 ) 2 ·H 2 O. Ni, Co and Li are leached and remain in the solution either as metallic ion or amine complexes. The optimised leaching conditions can be further obtained and the leaching kinetics is found to be chemical reaction control under current leaching conditions. As a result, this research is potentially beneficial for further optimisation of the spent lithium ion battery recycling process after incorporating with metal extraction from the leaching solution. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. Spatial distribution of solute leaching with snowmelt and irrigation: measurements and simulations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Schotanus, D.; van der Ploeg, M. J.; van der Zee, S. E. A. T. M.

    2013-04-01

    Transport of a tracer and a degradable solute in a heterogeneous soil was measured in the field, and simulated with several transient and steady state infiltration rates. Leaching surfaces were used to investigate the solute leaching in space and time simultaneously. In the simulations, a random field for the scaling factor in the retention curve was used for the heterogeneous soil, which was based on the spatial distribution of drainage in an experiment with a multi-compartment sampler. As a criterion to compare the results from simulations and observations, the sorted and cumulative total drainage in a cell was used. The effect of the ratio of the infiltration rate over the degradation rate on leaching of degradable solutes was investigated. Furthermore, the spatial distribution of the leaching of degradable and non-degradable solutes was compared. The infiltration rate determines the amount of leaching of the degradable solute. This can be partly explained by a decreasing travel time with an increasing infiltration rate. The spatial distribution of the leaching also depends on the infiltration rate. When the infiltration rate is high compared to the degradation rate, the leaching of the degradable solute is similar as for the tracer. The fraction of the pore space of the soil that contributes to solute leaching increases with an increasing infiltration rate. This fraction is similar for a tracer and a degradable solute. With increasing depth, the leaching becomes more homogeneous, as a result of dispersion. The spatial distribution of the solute leaching is different under different transient infiltration rates, therefore, also the amount of leaching is different. With independent stream tube approaches, this effect would be ignored.

  8. Spatial distribution of solute leaching with snowmelt and irrigation: measurements and simulations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Schotanus, D.; van der Ploeg, M. J.; van der Zee, S. E. A. T. M.

    2012-12-01

    Transport of a tracer and a degradable solute in a heterogeneous soil was measured in the field, and simulated with several transient and steady state infiltration rates. Leaching surfaces were used to investigate the solute leaching in space and time simultaneously. In the simulations, a random field for the scaling factor in the retention curve was used for the heterogeneous soil, which was based on the spatial distribution of drainage in an experiment with a multi-compartment sampler. As a criterion to compare the results from simulations and observations, the sorted and cumulative total drainage in a cell was used. The effect of the ratio of the infiltration rate over the degradation rate on leaching of degradable solutes was investigated. Furthermore, the spatial distribution of the leaching of degradable and non-degradable solutes was compared. The infiltration rate determines the amount of leaching of the degradable solute. This can be partly explained by a decreasing travel time with an increasing infiltration rate. The spatial distribution of the leaching also depends on the infiltration rate. When the infiltration rate is high compared to the degradation rate, the leaching of the degradable solute is similar as for the tracer. The fraction of the soil that contributes to solute leaching increases with an increasing infiltration rate. This fraction is similar for a tracer and a degradable solute. With increasing depth, the leaching becomes more homogeneous, as a result of dispersion. The spatial distribution of the solute leaching is different under different transient infiltration rates, therefore also the amount of leaching is different. With independent stream tube approaches, this effect would be ignored.

  9. A simple pre-treatment of aluminium cookware to minimize aluminium transfer to food.

    PubMed

    Karbouj, Rim; Desloges, I; Nortier, P

    2009-03-01

    In this work, we studied aluminium leaching from cookware to food under the effect of citric acid that is commonly found in foods and beverages. The authors showed that boiling the cookware in water prior to cooking is suitable for the decrease of aluminium leaching into food by a factor up to sixty (with a corresponding decrease of the aluminium intake by consumers). The effect of the pre-treatment has been studied by scanning electron microscopy and X-Ray diffraction and the effect has been attributed to changes in the structure and morphology of the passivation layer, from an initial heterogeneous layer to a surface uniformly covered with fine needles of Boehmite (alpha-AlOOH).

  10. Recycling process for recovery of gallium from GaN an e-waste of LED industry through ball milling, annealing and leaching

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Swain, Basudev, E-mail: swain@iae.re.kr; Mishra, Chinmayee; Kang, Leeseung

    Waste dust generated during manufacturing of LED contains significant amounts of gallium and indium, needs suitable treatment and can be an important resource for recovery. The LED industry waste dust contains primarily gallium as GaN. Leaching followed by purification technology is the green and clean technology. To develop treatment and recycling technology of these GaN bearing e-waste, leaching is the primary stage. In our current investigation possible process for treatment and quantitative leaching of gallium and indium from the GaN bearing e-waste or waste of LED industry dust has been developed. To recycle the waste and quantitative leaching of gallium,more » two different process flow sheets have been proposed. In one, process first the GaN of the waste the LED industry dust was leached at the optimum condition. Subsequently, the leach residue was mixed with Na{sub 2}CO{sub 3}, ball milled followed by annealing, again leached to recover gallium. In the second process, the waste LED industry dust was mixed with Na{sub 2}CO{sub 3}, after ball milling and annealing, followed acidic leaching. Without pretreatment, the gallium leaching was only 4.91 w/w % using 4 M HCl, 100 °C and pulp density of 20 g/L. After mechano-chemical processing, both these processes achieved 73.68 w/w % of gallium leaching at their optimum condition. The developed process can treat and recycle any e-waste containing GaN through ball milling, annealing and leaching. - Highlights: • Simplest process for treatment of GaN an LED industry waste developed. • The process developed recovers gallium from waste LED waste dust. • Thermal analysis and phase properties of GaN to Ga{sub 2}O{sub 3} and GaN to NaGaO{sub 2} revealed. • Solid-state chemistry involved in this process reported. • Quantitative leaching of the GaN was achieved.« less

  11. RELATIVE LEACHING AND AQUATIC TOXICITY OF PRESSURE-TREATED WOOD PRODUCTS USING BATCH LEACHING TESTS

    EPA Science Inventory

    Samples of southern yellow pine dimensional lumber, each treated with one of five different waterborne chemical preservatives, were leached using 18-hour batch leaching tests. The wood preservatives included chromated copper arsenate (CCA), alkaline copper quaternary (ACQ), coppe...

  12. A long-term static immersion experiment on the leaching behavior of heavy metals from waste printed circuit boards.

    PubMed

    Zhao, Guo-Hua; Luo, Xing-Zhang; Chen, Gui; Zhao, Yong-Jun

    2014-08-01

    Printed circuit boards (PCBs) are the main components of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE). Waste PCBs contain several kinds of heavy metals, including Cu, Pb and Zn. We characterize the leaching of heavy metals (Cu, Pb, Zn and Ni) from waste PCBs in a pH range of 3.0 to 5.6 using a novel approach based on batch pH-static leaching experiments in this work. The results indicate that the leaching behavior of Cu, Pb, Zn and Ni is strongly dependent on pH. Leaching behavior also varies with different pH values and leaching times. The maximum concentrations of Cu, Pb, Zn and Ni in leachate from waste PCBs were 335.00, 17.57, 2.40 and 2.33 mg L(-1), respectively. The highest Pb, Ni, and Cu concentrations leached significantly exceeded the European Union waste-acceptance limit values with respect to inert waste landfills. The leaching of metals follows the shrinking core model with surface reaction control.

  13. U.S. Geological Survey Field Leach Test for Assessing Water Reactivity and Leaching Potential of Mine Wastes, Soils, and Other Geologic and Environmental Materials

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Hageman, Philip L.

    2007-01-01

    The U. S. Geological Survey (USGS) has developed a fast (5-minute), effective, simple, and cost-effective leach test that can be used to simulate the reactions that occur when materials are leached by water. The USGS Field Leach Test has been used to predict, assess, and characterize the geochemical interactions between water and a broad variety of geologic and environmental matrices. Examples of some of the samples leached include metal mine wastes, various types of dusts, biosolids (processed sewage sludge), flood and wetland sediments, volcanic ash, forest-fire burned soils, and many other diverse matrices. The Field Leach Test has been an integral part of these investigations and has demonstrated its value as a geochemical characterization tool. It has enabled investigators to identify which constituents are water reactive, soluble, mobilized, and made bioaccessible because of leaching by water, and to understand potential impacts of these interactions on the surrounding environment.

  14. Factors influencing the Zn and Mn extraction from pyrometallurgical sludge in the steel manufacturing industry.

    PubMed

    Mocellin, J; Mercier, G; Morel, J L; Blais, J F; Simonnot, M O

    2015-08-01

    In this laboratory study, a process has been developed for selectively leaching zinc and manganese from pyrometallurgical sludge produced in the steel manufacturing industry. In the first part, the yield of Zn extraction was studied using four factors and four levels of the Box-Behnken response surface design. The optimum conditions for the step of Zn leaching were determined to be a sulfuric acid concentration of 0.25 mol/L, a pulp density of 10%, an extraction temperature of 20 °C, and three stages of leaching. Under such conditions, 75% of the Zn should be leached. For Mn leaching, the optimum conditions were determined to be a sulfuric acid concentration of 0.25 mol/L, a Na2S2O5/Mn stoichiometry of 1, a leaching time of 120 min and two leaching steps. In this case, 100% of the Mn should be leached. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. The leaching of lead from lead-based paint in landfill environments.

    PubMed

    Wadanambi, Lakmini; Dubey, Brajesh; Townsend, Timothy

    2008-08-30

    Lead leaching from lead-based paint (LBP) was examined using standardized laboratory protocols and tests with leachate from actual and simulated landfill environments. Two different LBP samples were tested; leaching solutions included leachates from three municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills and three construction and demolition (C&D) debris landfills. The toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP) and the synthetic precipitation leaching procedure (SPLP) were also performed. Lead concentrations were many times higher using the TCLP compared to the SPLP and the landfill leachates. No significant difference (alpha=0.05) was observed in leached lead concentrations from the MSW landfill and C&D debris landfill leachates. The impact of other building materials present in LBP debris on lead leaching was examined by testing mixtures of LBP (2%) and different building materials (98%; steel, wood, drywall, concrete). The type of substrate present impacted lead leaching results, with concrete demonstrating the most dramatic impact; the lowest lead concentrations were measured in the presence of concrete under both TCLP and SPLP extractions.

  16. Analysis of SPR salt cavern remedial leach program 2013.

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Weber, Paula D.; Gutierrez, Karen A.; Lord, David L.

    The storage caverns of the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) exhibit creep behavior resulting in reduction of storage capacity over time. Maintenance of oil storage capacity requires periodic controlled leaching named remedial leach. The 30 MMB sale in summer 2011 provided space available to facilitate leaching operations. The objective of this report is to present the results and analyses of remedial leach activity at the SPR following the 2011 sale until mid-January 2013. This report focuses on caverns BH101, BH104, WH105 and WH106. Three of the four hanging strings were damaged resulting in deviations from normal leach patterns; however, themore » deviations did not affect the immediate geomechanical stability of the caverns. Significant leaching occurred in the toes of the caverns likely decreasing the number of available drawdowns until P/D ratio criteria are met. SANSMIC shows good agreement with sonar data and reasonably predicted the location and size of the enhanced leaching region resulting from string breakage.« less

  17. Leaching characteristics of calcium-based compounds in MSWI Residues: From the viewpoint of clogging risk

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Xia, Yi; Institute of Waste Treatment and Reclamation, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092; Zhang, Hua, E-mail: zhanghua_tj@tongji.edu.cn

    Highlights: • The leaching behavior of Ca-based compounds commonly in MSWI residues was studied. • pH is the crucial factor for calcium leaching process. • CaCO{sub 3} was the most sensitive to leaching temperature and Ca{sub 3}(PO{sub 4}){sub 2} was the least. • Ca leaching of MSWIBA and SAPCR attributed to CaCO{sub 3} and Ca{sub 3}(PO{sub 4}){sub 2} respectively. • Potential clogging ability of MSWI residues leachate in open air was calculated. - Abstract: Leachate collection system (LCS) clogging caused by calcium precipitation would be disadvantageous to landfill stability and operation. Meanwhile, calcium-based compounds are the main constituents in bothmore » municipal solid waste incineration bottom ash (MSWIBA) and stabilized air pollution control residues (SAPCR), which would increase the risk of LCS clogging once these calcium-rich residues were disposed in landfills. The leaching behaviors of calcium from the four compounds and municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) residues were studied, and the influencing factors on leaching were discussed. The results showed that pH was the crucial factor in the calcium leaching process. CaCO{sub 3} and CaSiO{sub 3} began leaching when the leachate pH decreased to less than 7 and 10, respectively, while Ca{sub 3}(PO{sub 4}){sub 2} leached at pH < 12. CaSO{sub 4} could hardly dissolve in the experimental conditions. Moreover, the sequence of the leaching rate for the different calcium-based compounds is as follows: CaSiO{sub 3} > Ca{sub 3}(PO{sub 4}){sub 2} > CaCO{sub 3}. The calcium leaching from the MSWIBA and SAPCR separately started from pH < 7 and pH < 12, resulting from CaCO{sub 3} and Ca{sub 3}(PO{sub 4}){sub 2} leaching respectively, which was proven by the X-ray diffraction results. Based on the leaching characteristics of the different calcium compounds and the mineral phase of calcium in the incineration residues, simulated computation of their clogging potential was conducted, providing the theoretical basis for the risk assessment pertaining to LCS clogging in landfills.« less

  18. Phosphorus recovery and leaching of trace elements from incinerated sewage sludge ash (ISSA).

    PubMed

    Fang, Le; Li, Jiang-Shan; Guo, Ming Zhi; Cheeseman, C R; Tsang, Daniel C W; Donatello, Shane; Poon, Chi Sun

    2018-02-01

    Chemical extraction of phosphorus (P) from incinerated sewage sludge ash (ISSA) is adversely influenced by co-dissolution of metals and metalloids. This study investigated P recovery and leaching of Zn, Cu, Pb, As and Ni from ISSA using inorganic acids (sulphuric acid and nitric acid), organic acids (oxalic acid and citric acid), and chelating agents (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) and ethylene diamine tetramethylene phosphonate (EDTMP)). The aim of this study was to optimize a leaching process to recover P-leachate with high purity for P fertilizer production. The results show that both organic and inorganic acids extract P-containing phases but organic acids leach more trace elements, particularly Cu, Zn, Pb and As. Sulphuric acid was the most efficient for P recovery and achieved 94% of total extraction under the optimal conditions, which were 2-h reaction with 0.2 mol/L H 2 SO 4 at a liquid-to-solid ratio of 20:1. EDTA extracted only 20% of the available P, but the leachates were contaminated with high levels of trace elements under optimum conditions (3-h reaction with EDTA at 0.02 mol/L, pH 2, and liquid-to-solid ratio of 20:1). Therefore, EDTA was considered an appropriate pre-treatment agent for reducing the total metal/metalloid content in ISSA, which produced negligible changes in the structure of ISSA and reduced contamination during subsequent P extraction using sulphuric acid. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. Nitrate leaching in a winter wheat-summer maize rotation on a calcareous soil as affected by nitrogen and straw management.

    PubMed

    Huang, Tao; Ju, Xiaotang; Yang, Hao

    2017-02-08

    Nitrate leaching is one of the most important pathways of nitrogen (N) loss which leads to groundwater contamination or surface water eutrophication. Clarifying the rates, controlling factors and characteristics of nitrate leaching is the pre-requisite for proposing effective mitigation strategies. We investigated the effects of interactions among chemical N fertilizer, straw and manure applications on nitrogen leaching in an intensively managed calcareous Fluvo-aquic soil with winter wheat-summer maize cropping rotations on the North China Plain from October 2010 to September 2013 using ceramic suction cups and seepage water calculations based on a long-term field experiment. Annual nitrate leaching reached 38-60 kg N ha -1 from conventional N managements, but declined by 32-71% due to optimum N, compost manure or municipal waste treatments, respectively. Nitrate leaching concentrated in the summer maize season, and fewer leaching events with high amounts are the characteristics of nitrate leaching in this region. Overuse of chemical N fertilizers, high net mineralization and nitrification, together with predominance of rainfall in the summer season with light soil texture are the main controlling factors responsible for the high nitrate leaching loss in this soil-crop-climatic system.

  20. Process optimization and leaching kinetics of zinc and manganese metals from zinc-carbon and alkaline spent batteries using citric acid reagent

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yuliusman; Amiliana, R. A.; Wulandari, P. T.; Huda, M.; Kusumadewi, F. A.

    2018-03-01

    Zn-Carbon and Alkaline spent batteries contains heavy metals, such as zinc and manganese, which can causes environmental problem if not handled properly. Usually the recovery of these metals were done by leaching method using strong acid, but the use of strong acids as leaching reagents can be harmful to the environment. This paper concerns the recovery of Zn and Mn metals from Zn-C and alkaline spent batteries with leaching method using citric acid as the environmental friendly leaching reagent. The leaching conditions using citric acid were optimized and the leaching kinetics of Zn and Mn in citric acid solution was investigated. The leaching of 89.62% Zn and 63.26% Mn was achieved with 1.5 M citric acid, 90°C temperature, and 90 minutes stirring time. Kinetics data for the dissolution of Zn showed the best fit to chemical control shrinking core model, while the diffusion controlled model was suitable for the dissolution of Mn kinetics data. The activation energy of 6.12 and 1.73 kcal/mol was acquired for the leaching of Zn and Mn in the temperature range 60°C-90°C.

  1. Coatings to reduce wood preservative leaching.

    PubMed

    Nejad, Mojgan; Cooper, Paul

    2010-08-15

    The efficiency of semitransparent penetrating stains to reduce leaching of wood preservative components was evaluated. Five commercial wood deck finishes were applied to untreated and chromated copper arsenate (CCA), alkaline copper quat (ACQ), and copper azole (CA) treated wood, and leachates were collected and analyzed during 3 years of natural weathering exposure in Toronto, Canada. All stains evaluated effectively reduced the cumulative leaching of all inorganic preservative components by about 60% on average. Although most coatings showed significant film degradation starting around 12 months, the reduced leaching persisted even after 3 years. This suggests that temporary protection of wood with a coating during the early stages of use resulted in long-term reduction in preservative leaching potential. A two-week screening leaching test was able to predict the long-term leaching performance of different coatings reasonably well. Cured coating glass transition temperature (Tg) and liquid coating viscosity were the most important variables affecting a leaching prediction model. To effectively reduce leaching of preservative components from treated wood, coatings should have Tg low enough to withstand stresses caused by freezing in winter and have adequate viscosity to form a barrier film layer on the wood surface.

  2. Microfluidic Platform for High-throughput Screening of Leach Chemistry.

    PubMed

    Yang, Die; Priest, Craig

    2018-06-20

    We demonstrate an optofluidic screening platform for studying thiosulfate leaching of Au in a transparent microchannel. The approach permits in situ (optical) monitoring of Au thickness, reduced reagent use, rapid optimization of reagent chem-istry, screening of temperature, and determination of the activation energy. The results demonstrate the critical importance of the (1) preparation and storage of the leach solution, (2) deposition and annealing of the Au film, and (3) lixiviant chem-istry. The density of sputter deposited Au films decreased with depth resulting in accelerating leach rates during experiments. Atomic leach rates were determined and were constant throughout each experiment. Annealing above 270 °C was found to prevent leaching, which can be attributed to diffusion of the chromium adhesion layer into the Au film. The optofluidic analysis revealed leach rates that are sensitive to the stoichiometric ratio of thiosulphate, ammonia and copper in the leach solution, and optimized for 10 mM CuSO 4 , 1 M Na 2 S 2 O 3 and 1 M NH 4 OH. The temperature dependence of the leach rate gave an apparent activation energy of ~ 40 kJ.mol -1 , based on Arrhenius' relationship.

  3. Nitrate leaching in a winter wheat-summer maize rotation on a calcareous soil as affected by nitrogen and straw management

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Huang, Tao; Ju, Xiaotang; Yang, Hao

    2017-02-01

    Nitrate leaching is one of the most important pathways of nitrogen (N) loss which leads to groundwater contamination or surface water eutrophication. Clarifying the rates, controlling factors and characteristics of nitrate leaching is the pre-requisite for proposing effective mitigation strategies. We investigated the effects of interactions among chemical N fertilizer, straw and manure applications on nitrogen leaching in an intensively managed calcareous Fluvo-aquic soil with winter wheat-summer maize cropping rotations on the North China Plain from October 2010 to September 2013 using ceramic suction cups and seepage water calculations based on a long-term field experiment. Annual nitrate leaching reached 38-60 kg N ha-1 from conventional N managements, but declined by 32-71% due to optimum N, compost manure or municipal waste treatments, respectively. Nitrate leaching concentrated in the summer maize season, and fewer leaching events with high amounts are the characteristics of nitrate leaching in this region. Overuse of chemical N fertilizers, high net mineralization and nitrification, together with predominance of rainfall in the summer season with light soil texture are the main controlling factors responsible for the high nitrate leaching loss in this soil-crop-climatic system.

  4. Implementation of the Leaching Environmental Assessment ...

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    New leaching tests are available in the U.S. for developing more accurate source terms for use in fate and transport models. For beneficial use or disposal, the use of the leaching environmental assessment framework (LEAF) will provide leaching results that reflect field conditions reflecting either use of disposal of the material or waste. To provide overview of the implementation of new leaching tests for presentation at the MEGA symposium which is for the coal-fired power industry

  5. Bully, Bullied, Bystander. . . and beyond: Help Students Choose a New Role

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Coloroso, Barbara

    2011-01-01

    Bullying is seldom the only factor in a teenager's suicide. Often, mental illness and family stresses are involved. But bullying does play a role in many cases. These students feel that they have no way out of the pain heaped on them by tormentors--no one to turn to, no way to tell others. So they turn the violence inward with a tragic and final…

  6. Novel Approach for Enhanced Scandium and Titanium Leaching Efficiency from Bauxite Residue with Suppressed Silica Gel Formation.

    PubMed

    Alkan, Gözde; Yagmurlu, Bengi; Cakmakoglu, Seckin; Hertel, Tobias; Kaya, Şerif; Gronen, Lars; Stopic, Srecko; Friedrich, Bernd

    2018-04-04

    The need of light weight alloys for future transportation industry puts Sc and Ti under a sudden demand. While these metals can bring unique and desired properties to alloys, lack of reliable sources brought forth a supply problem which can be solved by valorization of the secondary resources. Bauxite residue (red mud), with considerable Ti and Sc content, is a promising resource for secure supply of these metals. Due to drawbacks of the direct leaching route from bauxite residue, such as silica gel formation and low selectivity towards these valuable metals, a novel leaching process based on oxidative leaching conditions, aiming more efficient and selective leaching but also considering environmental aspects via lower acid consumption, was investigated in this study. Combination of hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) and sulfuric acid (H 2 SO 4 ) was utilized as the leaching solution, where various acid concentrations, solid-to-liquid ratios, leaching temperatures and times were examined in a comparative manner. Leaching with 2.5 M H 2 O 2 : 2.5 M H 2 SO 4 mixture at 90 °C for 30 min was observed to be the best leaching conditions with suppressed silica gel formation and the highest reported leaching efficiency with high S/L ratio for Sc and Ti; 68% and 91%; respectively.

  7. Comparative study on copper leaching from waste printed circuit boards by typical ionic liquid acids.

    PubMed

    Chen, Mengjun; Huang, Jinxiu; Ogunseitan, Oladele A; Zhu, Nengming; Wang, Yan-min

    2015-07-01

    Waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs) are attracting increasing concerns because the recovery of its content of valuable metallic resources is hampered by the presence of hazardous substances. In this study, we used ionic liquids (IL) to leach copper from WPCBs. [BSO3HPy]OTf, [BSO3HMIm]OTf, [BSO4HPy]HSO4, [BSO4HMim]HSO4 and [MIm]HSO4 were selected. Factors that affect copper leaching rate were investigated in detail and their leaching kinetics were also examined with the comparison of [Bmim]HSO4. The results showed that all six IL acids could successfully leach copper out, with near 100% recovery. WPCB particle size and leaching time had similar influences on copper leaching performance, while IL acid concentration, hydrogen peroxide addition, solid to liquid ratio, temperature, showed different influences. Moreover, IL acid with HSO4(-) was more efficient than IL acid with CF3SO3(-). These six IL acids indicate a similar behavior with common inorganic acids, except temperature since copper leaching rate of some IL acids decreases with its increase. The results of leaching kinetics studies showed that diffusion plays a more important role than surface reaction, whereas copper leaching by inorganic acids is usually controlled by surface reaction. This innovation provides a new option for recovering valuable materials such as copper from WPCBs. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. An active dealkalization of red mud with roasting and water leaching.

    PubMed

    Zhu, Xiaobo; Li, Wang; Guan, Xuemao

    2015-04-09

    The research has focused on the dealkalization of red mud after active roasting and water leaching, which is obtained from bauxite during alumina production. The main factors such as roasting temperature, roasting time, water leaching stage, leaching temperature, leaching reaction time and liquid to solid ratio were investigated. The mechanism of dealkalization was in-depth studied by using ICP-AES, XRD, TG-DSC, SEM-EDS and leaching kinetic. The results show that the dealkalization rate reached 82% under the condition of roasting temperature of 700 °C, roasting time of 30 min, four stage water leaching, liquid to solid ratio of 7 mL/g, leaching temperature of 90 °C and reaction time of 60 min. The diffraction peak of Na6CaAl6Si6(CO3)O24 · 2H2O in red mud was decreased during the active roasting process, whereas the mineral phases of NaOH · H2O and Na2Ca(CO3)2 were appeared. The content of alkali obviously decreased and the grade of other elements increased during the process of active roasting and water leaching, which was in favor of next application process of red mud. The water leaching was controlled by internal diffusion of SCM and the apparent activation energy was 22.63 kJ/mol. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  9. Comparison of leaching characteristics of heavy metals from bottom and fly ashes in Korea and Japan.

    PubMed

    Shim, Young-Sook; Rhee, Seung-Whee; Lee, Woo-Keun

    2005-01-01

    The objective of this research was to compare the leaching characteristics of heavy metals such as cadmium, chromium, copper, nickel, lead, etc., in Korean and Japanese municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) ash. The rate of leaching of heavy metal was measured by KSLT and JTL-13, and the amount of heavy metals leached was compared with the metal content in each waste component. Finally, bio-availability testing was performed to assess the risks associated with heavy metals leached from bottom ash and fly ash. From the results, the value of neutralization ability in Japanese fly ash was four times higher than that in Korean fly ash. The reason was the difference in the content of Ca(OH)(2) in fly ash. The amount of lead leached exceeded the regulatory level in both Japanese and Korean fly ash. The rate of leaching was relatively low in ash with a pH in the range of 6-10. The bio-availability test in fly ash demonstrated that the amount of heavy metals leached was Pb>Cd>Cr, but the order was changed to Pb>Cr>Cd in the bottom ash. The leaching concentration of lead exceeded the Japanese risk level in all fly ashes from the two countries, but the leaching concentration of cadmium exceeded the regulatory level in Korean fly ash only.

  10. Modelling the energy balance of an anaerobic digester fed with cattle manure and renewable energy crops.

    PubMed

    Lübken, Manfred; Wichern, Marc; Schlattmann, Markus; Gronauer, Andreas; Horn, Harald

    2007-10-01

    Knowledge of the net energy production of anaerobic fermenters is important for reliable modelling of the efficiency of anaerobic digestion processes. By using the Anaerobic Digestion Model No. 1 (ADM1) the simulation of biogas production and composition is possible. This paper shows the application and modification of ADM1 to simulate energy production of the digestion of cattle manure and renewable energy crops. The paper additionally presents an energy balance model, which enables the dynamic calculation of the net energy production. The model was applied to a pilot-scale biogas reactor. It was found in a simulation study that a continuous feeding and splitting of the reactor feed into smaller heaps do not generally have a positive effect on the net energy yield. The simulation study showed that the ratio of co-substrate to liquid manure in the inflow determines the net energy production when the inflow load is split into smaller heaps. Mathematical equations are presented to calculate the increase of biogas and methane yield for the digestion of liquid manure and lipids for different feeding intervals. Calculations of different kinds of energy losses for the pilot-scale digester showed high dynamic variations, demonstrating the significance of using a dynamic energy balance model.

  11. Accumulation and tolerance of lead in two contrasting ecotypes of Dianthus carthusianorum.

    PubMed

    Wójcik, Małgorzata; Tukiendorf, Anna

    2014-04-01

    Dianthus carthusianorum is one of the dominant plant species colonising the Zn-Pb waste deposits in Bolesław, Southern Poland. It differs in terms of morphology and genetics from ecotypes inhabiting non-metal-polluted areas. The response of waste-heap (metallicolous, M) and reference (nonmetallicolous, NM) ecotypes of D. carthusianorum to Pb in hydroponics was investigated and compared in this study. The plants of the M ecotype were more tolerant to Pb than these of the NM ecotype in spite of accumulation of higher concentrations of Pb. In both ecotypes, about 70-78% of Pb was retained in roots. In non Pb-treated plants, a higher glutathione (GSH) level was found in the M ecotype. After the Pb exposure, the GSH level decreased and was similar in both ecotypes. Lead treatment induced synthesis of phytochelatins (PCs) only in the plant roots, with significantly higher concentrations thereof detected in the NM ecotype. Malate and citrate concentrations were higher in the M ecotype; however, they did not change significantly upon any Pb treatment in either ecotype. The results indicated that neither PCs nor organic acids were responsible for the enhanced Pb tolerance of the waste-heap plants. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Landscape monitoring of post-industrial areas using LiDAR and GIS technology

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wężyk, Piotr; Szostak, Marta; Krzaklewski, Wojciech; Pająk, Marek; Pierzchalski, Marcin; Szwed, Piotr; Hawryło, Paweł; Ratajczak, Michał

    2015-06-01

    The quarrying industry is changing the local landscape, forming deep open pits and spoil heaps in close proximity to them, especially lignite mines. The impact can include toxic soil material (low pH, heavy metals, oxidations etc.) which is the basis for further reclamation and afforestation. Forests that stand on spoil heaps have very different growth conditions because of the relief (slope, aspect, wind and rainfall shadows, supply of solar energy, etc.) and type of soil that is deposited. Airborne laser scanning (ALS) technology deliver point clouds (XYZ) and derivatives as raster height models (DTM, DSM, nDSM=CHM) which allow the reception of selected 2D and 3D forest parameters (e.g. height, base of the crown, cover, density, volume, biomass, etc). The automation of ALS point cloud processing and integrating the results into GIS helps forest managers to take appropriate decisions on silvicultural treatments in areas with failed plantations (toxic soil, droughts on south-facing slopes; landslides, etc.) or as regular maintenance. The ISOK country-wide project ongoing in Poland will soon deliver ALS point cloud data which can be successfully used for the monitoring and management of many thousands of hectares of destroyed post-industrial areas which according to the law, have to be afforested and transferred back to the State Forest.

  13. Gold leaching by organic base polythionates: new non-toxic and secure technology.

    PubMed

    Smolyaninov, Vladislav; Shekhvatova, Galina; Vainshtein, Mikhail

    2014-01-01

    The article present a review on own experimental and some published data which are related with the gold leaching. It is well-known that the most common and usual process of the leaching with cyanide can be dangerous, needs a great water consumption, and additional costs for remediation of the poisoned and toxic sites. The experimental data described production of poythionates which are not toxic but perspective for the prosperous gold leaching. The paper dedicated to the safe gold leaching with thiosulfates and organic salts of polythionic acids (organic base polythionates). The method of production of these polythionates based on the Smolyaninov reaction is described in stages and in details for the first time. Possible application of the polythionates application in the gold leaching is discussed and its advantages are compared with the gold leaching by cyanation.

  14. Leaching kinetic of Nd. Y, Pr and Sm in rare earth hydroxide (REOH) use nitric acid

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Purwani, MV; Suyanti

    2018-02-01

    The purpose of this study were to determine the order of reaction, rate reaction constant and activation energy of reaction Y(OH)3, Nd(OH)3, Pr(OH)3 and Sm(OH)3 with HNO3. The rate reaction constant is necessary to determine the residence time in the design of continuously stirred tank reactor (CSTR). The studied parameters were leaching temperature (60 - 90 °C) and leaching time (0-15 minutes). From the resulting data can be concluded that the leaching process were strongly influenced by the time and temperature process. Leaching rare earth hydroxide (REOH) using nitric acid follows second order. At leaching 10 grams of REOH using 40 ml HNO3 0.0576 mol were obtained maximum conversion at 90 °C and leaching time 15 minutes for Y was 0.95 (leaching efficiency was 95%), for Nd was 0.97 ( leaching efficiency was 97%), for Pr was 0.94 (leaching efficiency was 94%) and for Sm was 0.94 (leaching efficiency was 94%). The largest activation energy was Y of 23.34 kJ/mol followed by Pr of 20.00 kJ/mol, Sm of 17.94 kJ/mol and the smallest was Nd of 16.39 kJ/mol. The relationship between the rate constant of the reaction with T for Y was kY = 338.26 e-23,34/RT, for Nd was kNd = 33.69 e -16,39 / RT, for Pr was kPr = 102.04 e-20 / RT and for Sm adalah was kSm = 50.16 e-17,94/RT

  15. TiO2 induced structural modifications in Cs containing borosilicate glasses: Raman and infrared studies

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pandey, M.; Banerjee, D.; Sudarsan, V.; Kshirsagar, R. J.

    2018-04-01

    Effect of TiO2 addition in Cs containing Sodium-borosilicate glasses is studied using Raman and infrared spectroscopic techniques. As revealed from infrared and Raman studies, TiO2 does not form segregated phase, but instead enters into the borosilicate network. It is further observed that TiO2 addition results in modifications of the borate and silicate structural units by transforming into tetraborates and metasilicate structural units. These structural modifications are responsible for Cs immobilization, leach rate and chemical durability of these glasses.

  16. COMPARATIVE EVALUATION OF SHORT-TERM LEACH TESTS FOR HEAVY METAL RELEASE FROM MINERAL PROCESSING WASTE

    EPA Science Inventory

    Evaluation of metal leaching using a single leach test such as the Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) is often questionable. The pH, redox potential (Eh), particle size and contact time are critical variables in controlling metal stability, not accounted...

  17. Morphology and pH changes in leached solidified/stabilized waste forms

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Cheng, K.Y.; Bishop, P.L.

    1996-12-31

    Leaching of cement-based waste forms in acetic acid solutions with different acidic strengths has been investigated in this work. The examination of the morphology and pH profile along the acid penetration route by an optical microscope and various pH color indicators is reported. A clear-cut leaching boundary, where the pH changes from below 6 in the leached surface layers to above 12 in the unleached waste form, was observed in every leached sample.

  18. The influence of Pb addition on the properties of fly ash-based geopolymers.

    PubMed

    Nikolić, Violeta; Komljenović, Miroslav; Džunuzović, Nataša; Miladinović, Zoran

    2018-05-15

    Preventing or reducing negative effects on the environment from the waste landfilling is the main goal defined by the European Landfill Directive. Generally geopolymers can be considered as sustainable binders for immobilization of hazardous wastes containing different toxic elements. In this paper the influence of addition of high amount of lead on structure, strength, and leaching behavior (the effectiveness of Pb immobilization) of fly ash-based geopolymers depending on the geopolymer curing conditions was investigated. Lead was added during the synthesis of geopolymers in the form of highly soluble salt - lead-nitrate. Structural changes of geopolymers as a result of lead addition/immobilization were assessed by means of XRD, SEM/EDS, and 29 Si MAS NMR analysis. Investigated curing conditions significantly influenced structure, strength and leaching behavior of geopolymers. High addition of lead caused a sizeable decrease in compressive strength of geopolymers and promoted formation of aluminum-deficient aluminosilicate gel (depolymerization of aluminosilicate gel), regardless of the curing conditions investigated. According to the EUWAC limitations, 4% of lead was successfully immobilized by fly ash-based geopolymers cured for 28 days in a humid chamber at room temperature. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  19. Influence of microwaves on the leaching kinetics of uraninite from a low grade ore in dilute sulfuric acid.

    PubMed

    Madakkaruppan, V; Pius, Anitha; T, Sreenivas; Giri, Nitai; Sarbajna, Chanchal

    2016-08-05

    This paper describes a study on microwave assisted leaching of uranium from a low-grade ore of Indian origin. The host rock for uranium mineralization is chlorite-biotite-muscovite-quartzo-feldspathic schist. The dominant presence of siliceous minerals determined leaching of uranium values in sulfuric acid medium under oxidizing conditions. Process parametric studies like the effect of sulfuric acid concentration (0.12-0.50M), redox potential (400-500mV), particle size (600-300μm) and temperature (35°-95°C) indicated that microwave assisted leaching is more efficient in terms of overall uranium dissolution, kinetics and provide relatively less impurities (Si, Al, Mg and Fe) in the leach liquor compared to conventional conductive leaching. The kinetics of leaching followed shrinking core model with product layer diffusion as controlling mechanism. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  20. Leaching of a copper flotation concentrate with ammonium persulfate in an autoclave system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Deniz Turan, M.; Soner Altundoğan, H.

    2014-09-01

    The leaching behavior of a copper flotation concentrate was investigated using ammonium persulfate (APS) in an autoclave system. The decomposition products of APS, active oxygen, and acidic medium were used to extract metals from the concentrate. Leaching experiments were performed to compare the availability of APS as an oxidizing agent for leaching of the concentrate under atmospheric conditions and in an autoclave system. Leaching temperature and APS concentration were found to be important parameters in both leaching systems. Atmospheric leaching studies showed that the metal extractions increased with the increase in APS concentration and temperature (up to 333 K). A similar tendency was determined in the autoclave studies up to 423 K. It was also determined that the metal extractions decreased at temperatures above 423 K due to the passivation of the particle surface by molten elemental sulfur. The results showed that higher copper extractions could be achieved using an autoclave system.

  1. Assessment of Pb, Cd, Cr and Ag leaching from electronics waste using four extraction methods.

    PubMed

    Keith, Ashley; Keesling, Kara; Fitzwater, Kendra K; Pichtel, John; Houy, Denise

    2008-12-01

    Heavy metals present in electronic components may leach upon disposal and therefore pose significant environmental hazards. The potential leaching of Pb, Cd, Cr and Ag from PC cathode ray tubes, printed circuit boards (PCBs), PC mice, TV remote controls, and mobile phones was assessed. After controlled crushing, each component was extracted using the Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP), EPA Method 1312 (SPLP), NEN 7371 (Dutch Environmental Agency), and DIN S4 (Germany). The TCLP consistently leached the greatest amounts of Pb from all components. The SPLP, NEN 7371 and DIN S4 extracted relatively small amounts of metals compared with the TCLP and were not considered effective as leaching tests for e-waste. The smallest size fraction (< 2 mm) of CRT glass and PCBs leached significantly (p < 0.05) highest Pb via the TCLP. A modified TCLP removed 50.9% more extractable Pb compared with the conventional procedure.

  2. Selective Acidic Leaching of Spent Zinc-Carbon Batteries Followed by Zinc Electrowinning

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shalchian, Hossein; Rafsanjani-Abbasi, Ali; Vahdati-Khaki, Jalil; Babakhani, Abolfazl

    2015-02-01

    In this work, a selective acidic leaching procedure was employed for recycling zinc from spent zinc-carbon batteries. Leaching experiments were carried out in order to maximize zinc recovery and minimize manganese recovery in diluted sulfuric acid media. Response surface methodology and analysis of variance were employed for experimental design, data analysis, and leaching optimization. The experimental design has 28 experiments that include 24 main runs and four replicate in center point. The optimal conditions obtained from the selective acidic leaching experiments, were sulfuric acid concentration of 1 pct v/v, leaching temperature of 343 K (70 °C), pulp density of 8 pct w/v, and stirring speed of 300 rpm. The results show that the zinc and manganese recoveries after staged selective leaching are about 92 and 15 pct, respectively. Finally, metallic zinc with purity of 99.9 pct and electrolytic manganese dioxide were obtained by electrowinning.

  3. NLEAP/GIS approach for identifying and mitigating regional nitrate-nitrogen leaching

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Shaffer, M.J.; Hall, M.D.; Wylie, B.K.; Wagner, D.G.; Corwin, D.L.; Loague, K.

    1996-01-01

    Improved simulation-based methodology is needed to help identify broad geographical areas where potential NO3-N leaching may be occurring from agriculture and suggest management alternatives that minimize the problem. The Nitrate Leaching and Economic Analysis Package (NLEAP) model was applied to estimate regional NO3-N leaching in eastern Colorado. Results show that a combined NLEAP/GIS technology can be used to identify potential NO3-N hot spots in shallow alluvial aquifers under irrigated agriculture. The NLEAP NO3-N Leached (NL) index provided the most promising single index followed by NO3-N Available for Leaching (NAL). The same combined technology also shows promise in identifying Best Management Practice (BMP) methods that help minimize NO3-N leaching in vulnerable areas. Future plans call for linkage of the NLEAP/GIS procedures with groundwater modeling to establish a mechanistic analysis of agriculture-aquifer interactions at a regional scale.

  4. INFLUENCE OF PH AND REDOX CONDITIONS ON COPPER LEACHING

    EPA Science Inventory

    Leaching behavior of metals from a mineral processing waste at varying pH and redox conditions was studies. Effect of combinations of pH and Eh on leaching of copper is described. Leaching of copper was found to be dependent on both pH and Eh. Higher concentrations of Cu were ...

  5. Study on mechanisms of different sulfuric acid leaching technologies of chromite

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shi, Pei-yang; Liu, Cheng-jun; Zhao, Qing; Shi, Hao-nan

    2017-09-01

    The extraction of chromate from chromite via the sulfuric acid leaching process has strong potential for practical use because it is a simple and environmentally friendly process. This paper aims to study the sulfuric acid leaching process using chromite as a raw material via either microwave irradiation or in the presence of an oxidizing agent. The results show that the main phases in Pakistan chromite are ferrichromspinel, chrompicotite, hortonolite, and silicate embedded around the spinel phases. Compared with the process with an oxidizing agent, the process involving microwaves has a higher leaching efficiency. When the mass fraction of sulfuric acid was 80% and the leaching time was 20 min, the efficiency could exceed 85%. In addition, the mechanisms of these two technologies fundamentally differ. When the leaching was processed in the presence of an oxidizing agent, the silicate was leached first and then expanded. By contrast, in the case of leaching under microwave irradiation, the chromite was dissolved layer by layer and numerous cracks appeared at the particle surface because of thermal shock. In addition, the silicate phase shrunk instead of expanding.

  6. Reforestation and landscape reconstruction in gypsum mine area from the semiarid region of NE Brazil

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bittar, S. M. B.; Straaten, P. V.; de Araujo Vieura Santos, M. de Fatima; Agra Bezerra da Silva, Y. J.; da Silva, M.; Saraiva de Melo Pinheiro, T.; Gusmao Didier de Moraes, F.; de Aguiar Accioly, A. M.; Alves de Santana, S. R.; dos Santos, H. A.; de Carvalho, D. M.; de Lima Ferreira, G.; de Carvalho Santos, C.

    2012-04-01

    In the Araripe region, Northeast Brazil, exist the world's second largest reserve of gypsum, estimated at over than one billion tons, which accounts for 95% of the Brazilian production and constitutes an important segment of the regional economy. The gypsum deposit occurs in the Lower Cretaceous Santana Formation of the Araripe basin, which is constituted by siltstones, marls, limestones, shales and gypsum layers. The ore extraction is from an open pit, on simple benches with a height of about 15 meters. Activities in mining operations involve stripping, drilling, loading explosives, blast, fragmentation and block loading / transport. Currently, gypsum mining and processing results in major changes in the landscape (pits and wastes heaps sedimentary rocks and soil mixture), deforestation of the "caatinga" ecosystem for use as firewood in small calcinations, dust pollution and changes in hydrology. To promote environmental remediation of this area, a multidisciplinary research has being done with the aim to support reforestation at the wastes heaps. The study involved the following activities: collection and physical, chemical and mineralogical characterization of mine waste materials; a floristic survey around the mines (botanical identification and measuring physical parameters in 16 plots, in order to identify which species are best suited to the conditions of the substrate at the mine site); an experiment (randomized block design) developed in a greenhouse, where seedlings of various native tree species were grown in a "constructed soil" made up of gypsum waste combined with chicken, goat and cattle manure, aimed to select tree species and soil treatment to be used in a waste heap; and an assessment of water quality for irrigation of the reforestation areas. The waste materials consist of large clayey aggregates, which may present physical/chemical properties unfavorable for plant development. The mineralogy of the sand fraction (> 85% quartz, gypsum and aggregates with carbonate, clay, ferrous and/or manganese oxides) indicates a low potential reserve of plant nutrients. The clay mineralogy, with the presence of 2:1 minerals, explains the high CEC (60.95 cmolc dm-3). Moderately alkaline pH is above the desirable range. P (282 mg kg-1) is high, while N (0.3 g kg-1) is low. ESP < 4% classifies the waste as non-sodium and the EC (60.95 cmolc dm-3) reflects mainly the Ca. The low values of soil organic matter (3,56 g kg-1) indicate the relevance of using organic amendments for the reconstruction of the soil for plant growth. Based on these data a forestation experiment (randomized block design) was done on a large waste heap preserved for scientific research, where 500 tree seedling were planted (9 different species) in a plot of 134 m x 60 m in size.Two substrates treatments were used: block with 1.4 kg organic matter per plant hole and blocks without organic matter. The preliminary statistical data show good responses to the treatments. This constitutes a way to transform gypsum mining wastes into soil. Application of these technologies for environmental rehabilitation can be used in other problems.

  7. Nitrate leaching in a winter wheat-summer maize rotation on a calcareous soil as affected by nitrogen and straw management

    PubMed Central

    Huang, Tao; Ju, Xiaotang; Yang, Hao

    2017-01-01

    Nitrate leaching is one of the most important pathways of nitrogen (N) loss which leads to groundwater contamination or surface water eutrophication. Clarifying the rates, controlling factors and characteristics of nitrate leaching is the pre-requisite for proposing effective mitigation strategies. We investigated the effects of interactions among chemical N fertilizer, straw and manure applications on nitrogen leaching in an intensively managed calcareous Fluvo-aquic soil with winter wheat-summer maize cropping rotations on the North China Plain from October 2010 to September 2013 using ceramic suction cups and seepage water calculations based on a long-term field experiment. Annual nitrate leaching reached 38–60 kg N ha−1 from conventional N managements, but declined by 32–71% due to optimum N, compost manure or municipal waste treatments, respectively. Nitrate leaching concentrated in the summer maize season, and fewer leaching events with high amounts are the characteristics of nitrate leaching in this region. Overuse of chemical N fertilizers, high net mineralization and nitrification, together with predominance of rainfall in the summer season with light soil texture are the main controlling factors responsible for the high nitrate leaching loss in this soil-crop-climatic system. PMID:28176865

  8. Rare earths recovery and gypsum upgrade from Florida phosphogypsum

    DOE PAGES

    Liang, Haijun; Zhang, Patrick; Jin, Zhen; ...

    2017-11-01

    Phosphogypsum is a byproduct created during the production of industrial wet-process phosphoric acid. This study focused on recovering rare earth elements (REEs) from a Florida phosphogypsum sample and investigated the effects of removing detrimental impurities such as phosphorus pentoxide (P 2O 5), uranium (U) and fluorine (F) during the leaching process. Experimental results indicated that REE leaching efficiency increased rapidly, reached a maximum and then began to decrease with sulfuric acid concentrations ranging from 0 to 10 percent and temperatures ranging from 20 to 70 °C. At a sulfuric acid concentration of 5 percent and leaching temperature of 50 °C,more » REE leaching efficiency obtained a maximum value of approximately 43 percent. Increasing the leaching time or liquid/solid ratio increased the leaching efficiency. The leaching efficiencies of P 2O 5, U and F consistently increased with sulfuric acid concentration, temperature, leaching time and liquid/solid ratio within the testing ranges. A fine-grain gypsum concentrate, sized smaller than 40 μm, was separated from leached phosphogypsum through elutriation, in which the P 2O 5, U and F content levels were reduced by 99, 70 and 83 percent, respectively, from their content levels in fresh phosphogypsum.« less

  9. The enhancing of Au-Ag-Te content in tellurium-bearing ore mineral by bio-oxidation-leaching

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kim, PyeongMan; Kim, HyunSoo; Myung, EunJi; Kim, YoonJung; Lee, YongBum; Park*, CheonYoung

    2015-04-01

    The purpose of this study is to enhance the content of valuable metals such as Au-Ag-Te in tellurium-bearing minerals by bio-oxidation-leaching. It was confirmed that pyrite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite and galena were produced together with tellurium-bearing minerals including hessite, sylvanite and tellurobismuthite from ore minerals and concentrates through microscopic observation and SEM/EDS analysis. In a bio-oxidation-leaching experiment, with regard to Au, Ag, Te, Cu and Fe, the changes in the amount of leaching and the content of leaching residues were compared and analyzed with each other depending on the adaptation of an indigenous microbe identified as Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans. As a result of the experiment, the Au-Ag-Te content in tellurium-bearing ore mineral was enhanced in the order of physical oxidation leaching, physical/non-adaptive bio-oxidation-leaching and physical/adaptive biological leaching. It suggests that the bio-oxidation-leaching using microbes adapted in tellurium-bearing ore mineral can be used as a pre-treatment and a main process in a recovery process of valuable metals. "This research was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea(NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education(NRF-2013R1A1A2004898)"

  10. Rare earths recovery and gypsum upgrade from Florida phosphogypsum

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Liang, Haijun; Zhang, Patrick; Jin, Zhen

    Phosphogypsum is a byproduct created during the production of industrial wet-process phosphoric acid. This study focused on recovering rare earth elements (REEs) from a Florida phosphogypsum sample and investigated the effects of removing detrimental impurities such as phosphorus pentoxide (P 2O 5), uranium (U) and fluorine (F) during the leaching process. Experimental results indicated that REE leaching efficiency increased rapidly, reached a maximum and then began to decrease with sulfuric acid concentrations ranging from 0 to 10 percent and temperatures ranging from 20 to 70 °C. At a sulfuric acid concentration of 5 percent and leaching temperature of 50 °C,more » REE leaching efficiency obtained a maximum value of approximately 43 percent. Increasing the leaching time or liquid/solid ratio increased the leaching efficiency. The leaching efficiencies of P 2O 5, U and F consistently increased with sulfuric acid concentration, temperature, leaching time and liquid/solid ratio within the testing ranges. A fine-grain gypsum concentrate, sized smaller than 40 μm, was separated from leached phosphogypsum through elutriation, in which the P 2O 5, U and F content levels were reduced by 99, 70 and 83 percent, respectively, from their content levels in fresh phosphogypsum.« less

  11. A possible link between Balkan endemic nephropathy and the leaching of toxic organic compounds from Pliocene lignite by groundwater: Preliminary investigation

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Orem, W.H.; Feder, G.L.; Finkelman, R.B.

    1999-01-01

    Balkan endemic nephropathy (BEN) is a fatal kidney disease that is known to occur only in clusters of villages in alluvial valleys of tributaries of the Danube River in Bulgaria, Romania, Yugoslavia, Bosnia, and Croatia. The confinement of this disease to a specific geographic area has led to speculation that an environmental factor may be involved in the etiology of BEN. Numerous environmental factors have been suggested as causative agents for producing BEN, including toxic metals in drinking water, metal deficiency in soils of BEN areas, and environmental mycotoxins to name a few. These hypotheses have either been disproved or have failed to conclusively demonstrate a connection to the etiology of BEN, or the clustering of BEN villages. In previous work, we observed a distinct geographic relationship between the distribution of Pliocene lignites in the Balkans and BEN villages. We hypothesized that the long-term consumption of well water containing toxic organic compounds derived from the leaching of nearby Pliocene lignites by groundwater was a primary factor in the etiology of BEN. In our current work, chemical analysis using 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (13CNMR) spectroscopy indicated a high degree of organic functionality in Pliocene lignite from the Balkans, and suggested that groundwater can readily leach organic matter from these coal beds. Semi-quantitative gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy analysis of solvent extracts of groundwater from shallow wells in BEN villages indicated the presence of potentially toxic aromatic compounds, such as napthalene, fluorene, phenanthrene, and pyrene at concentrations in the ppb range. Laboratory leaching of Balkan Pliocene lignites with distilled water yielded soluble organic matter (> 500 MW) containing large amounts of aromatic structures similar to the simple/discrete aromatic compounds detected in well water from BEN villages. These preliminary results are permissive of our hypothesis and suggest that further work on the possible relationship between the etiology of BEN and toxic aromatic substances leached from Pliocene lignites in well water is warranted.A distinct geographic relationship between the distribution of Pliocene lignites in the Balkans and villages where Balkan endemic nephropathy (BEN) occurs has been observed, indicating a possible link between BEN and the long-term consumption of well water containing toxic organic compounds derived from the leaching of nearby Pliocene lignites. Preliminary investigations by NMR spectroscopy, gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy and leaching experiments show a high degree of organic functionality in the Pliocene lignites, high-leachability by groundwater of organic matter from these beds, and the presence of toxic aromatic compounds.

  12. Release of heavy metals during long-term land application of sewage sludge compost: Percolation leaching tests with repeated additions of compost.

    PubMed

    Fang, Wen; Delapp, Rossane C; Kosson, David S; van der Sloot, Hans A; Liu, Jianguo

    2017-02-01

    Leaching assessment procedures have been used to determine the leachability of heavy metals as input for evaluating the risk from sewage sludge compost land application. However, relatively little attention has been paid to understanding leaching from soils with repeated application of sewage sludge compost with elevated levels of heavy metals. In this paper, leaching assessment is extended to evaluate the potential leaching of heavy metals during repetitive application of composted sewage sludge to soils. Four cycling of compost additions and percolation leaching were conducted to investigate how leaching behavior of heavy metals changed with repeated additions of compost. Results showed that repetitive additions of compost to soil significantly increased the content of organic matter, which favored the formation of reducing condition due to improved microbial activities and oxygen consumption. Establishment of reducing conditions can enhance the leaching concentrations of As by approximately 1 order of magnitude, especially for the soil rich in organic matter. For Cd, Cr, Cu, and Pb, repeated additions of compost will cause accumulation in total contents but not enhancement in leaching concentrations. The infiltration following compost additions will leach out the mobile fraction and the residual fraction might not release in the next cycling of compost addition and infiltration. The cumulative release of Cd, Cr, Cu, and Pb accounted for less than 5% of the total contents during four times of compost applications. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. Leaching composted lignocellulosic wastes to prepare container media: feasibility and environmental concerns.

    PubMed

    Fornes, Fernando; Carrión, Carolina; García-de-la-Fuente, Rosana; Puchades, Rosa; Abad, Manuel

    2010-08-01

    The leaching of salt and mineral elements from three composts prepared with residual vegetable crop biomass (melon, pepper or zucchini) was studied using methacrylate columns and distilled water. The benefits of the leached composts to be used for ornamental potted plant production were also analysed. After leaching 5 container capacities of effluent, both the electrical conductivity and the concentration of soluble mineral elements in compost leachates decreased substantially and remained close to the target levels. Composts reacted differently to leaching due to differences in the raw waste sources and the composting process and hence, in their physical and chemical characteristics. At the end of the experiment, after pouring 8 container capacities of water, the leaching efficiency of the salts was 96%, 93% and 87% for melon, pepper and zucchini-based composts, respectively. Mineral elements differed in their ability to be removed from the composts; N (NH(4)(+) and NO(3)(-)), K(+), Na(+), Cl(-), and SO(4)(2-) were leached readily, whereas H(2)PO(4)(-), Ca(2+), and Mg(2+) were removed hardly. Leached composts showed a range of physico-chemical and chemical characteristics suitable for use as growing media constituents. Potted Calendula and Calceolaria plants grew in the substrates prepared with the leached composts better than in those made with the non-leached ones. Finally, special emphasis must be paid to the management of the effluents produced under commercial conditions to avoid environmental pollution. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. Identifying a rainfall event threshold triggering herbicide leaching by preferential flow

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    McGrath, G. S.; Hinz, C.; Sivapalan, M.; Dressel, J.; Pütz, T.; Vereecken, H.

    2010-02-01

    How can leaching risk be assessed if the chemical flux and/or the toxicity is highly uncertain? For many strongly sorbing pesticides it is known that their transport through the unsaturated zone occurs intermittently through preferential flow, triggered by significant rainfall events. In these circumstances the timing and frequency of these rainfall events may allow quantification of leaching risk to overcome the limitations of flux prediction. In this paper we analyze the leaching behavior of bromide and two herbicides, methabenzthiazuron and ethidimuron, using data from twelve uncropped lysimeters, with high-resolution climate data, in order to identify the rainfall controls on rapid solute leaching. A regression tree analysis suggested that a coarse-scale fortnightly to monthly water balance was a good predictor of short-term increases in drainage and bromide transport. Significant short-term herbicide leaching, however, was better predicted by the occurrence of a single storm with a depth greater than a 19 mm threshold. Sampling periods where rain events exceeded this threshold accounted for between 38% and 56% of the total mass of herbicides leached during the experiment. The same threshold only accounted for between 1% and 10% of the total mass of bromide leached. On the basis of these results, we conclude that in this system, the leaching risks of strongly sorbing chemicals can be quantified by the timing and frequency of these large rainfall events. Empirical and modeling approaches are suggested to apply this frequentist approach to leaching risk assessment to other soil-climate systems.

  15. Valorization of GaN based metal-organic chemical vapor deposition dust a semiconductor power device industry waste through mechanochemical oxidation and leaching: A sustainable green process.

    PubMed

    Swain, Basudev; Mishra, Chinmayee; Lee, Chan Gi; Park, Kyung-Soo; Lee, Kun-Jae

    2015-07-01

    Dust generated during metal organic vapor deposition (MOCVD) process of GaN based semiconductor power device industry contains significant amounts of gallium and indium. These semiconductor power device industry wastes contain gallium as GaN and Ga0.97N0.9O0.09 is a concern for the environment which can add value through recycling. In the present study, this waste is recycled through mechanochemical oxidation and leaching. For quantitative recovery of gallium, two different mechanochemical oxidation leaching process flow sheets are proposed. In one process, first the Ga0.97N0.9O0.09 of the MOCVD dust is leached at the optimum condition. Subsequently, the leach residue is mechanochemically treated, followed by oxidative annealing and finally re-leached. In the second process, the MOCVD waste dust is mechanochemically treated, followed by oxidative annealing and finally leached. Both of these treatment processes are competitive with each other, appropriate for gallium leaching and treatment of the waste MOCVD dust. Without mechanochemical oxidation, 40.11 and 1.86 w/w% of gallium and Indium are leached using 4M HCl, 100°C and pulp density of 100 kg/m(3,) respectively. After mechanochemical oxidation, both these processes achieved 90 w/w% of gallium and 1.86 w/w% of indium leaching at their optimum condition. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  16. Leaching of lead from computer printed wire boards and cathode ray tubes by municipal solid waste landfill leachates.

    PubMed

    Jang, Yong-Chul; Townsend, Timothy G

    2003-10-15

    The proper management of discarded electronic devices (E-waste) is an important issue for solid waste professionals because of the magnitude of the waste stream and because these devices often contain a variety of toxic metals (e.g., lead). While recycling of E-waste is developing, much of this waste stream is disposed in landfills. Leaching tests are frequently used to characterize the potential of a solid waste to leach when disposed in a landfill. In the United States, the Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) is used to determine whether a solid waste is a hazardous waste by the toxicity characteristic. The TCLP is designed to simulate worse-case leaching in a landfill environment where the waste is co-disposed with municipal solid waste (MSW). While the TCLP is a required analysis from a regulatory perspective, the leachate concentrations measured may not accurately reflect the concentrations observed under typical landfill conditions. Another method that can be performed to assess the degree a pollutant might leach from a waste in a landfill is to use actual landfill leachate as the leaching solution. In this study, two lead-containing components found in electronic devices (printed wire boards from computers and cathode ray tubes from computers and televisions) were leached using the TCLP and leachates from 11 Florida landfills. California's Waste Extraction Test (WET) and the Synthetic Precipitation Leaching Procedure were also performed. The results indicated that the extractions using MSW landfill leachates resulted in lower lead concentrations than those by the TCLP. The pH of the leaching solution and the ability of the organic acids in the TCLP and WET to complex with the lead are factors that regulate the amount of lead leached.

  17. Effect of Harsh or Mild Extraction of Soil on Pesticide Leaching to Groundwater.

    PubMed

    Boesten, Jos J T I

    2016-07-01

    Assessment of leaching to groundwater is an important aspect of pesticide risk assessment. The first leaching tier usually consists of simulations with leaching scenarios based on pesticide-soil properties derived from laboratory studies. Because the extractability of pesticide residues in such studies decreases with time, the harshness of the extraction method influences these pesticide-soil properties. This study investigates the effect of using a mild or harsh extraction method on simulated leaching to groundwater with consideration of substances with a range of half-lives and organic matter sorption coefficient values for selected leaching scenarios. The model for linking the concentrations of the mild and the harsh systems was based on laboratory studies with two pesticides and a Dutch sandy soil and was tested against Canadian field studies with atrazine (6-chloro-2-ethyl-4-isopropyl-1,3,5-triazine-2,4-diamine). The degradation rate and the aged-sorption parameters of each "mild" soil-substance system were derived from a hypothetical laboratory incubation study using prescribed parameter values for the corresponding "harsh" soil-substance system. Simulations were performed for three European leaching scenarios (United Kingdom, France, Portugal). For the best-guess parameter set, the leaching concentrations of the harsh system were approximately equal to those of the mild system at leaching concentrations greater than 1 μg L and were at most approximately a factor of two higher than those of the mild systems at mild leaching concentrations between 0.01 and 0.1 μg L. However, an extreme parameter set led to harsh leaching concentrations that were at most approximately 10 times higher than the mild leaching concentrations at levels between 0.01 and 0.1 μg L. Copyright © by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, Inc.

  18. The pH-dependent leaching behavior of slags from various stages of a copper smelting process: Environmental implications.

    PubMed

    Jarošíková, Alice; Ettler, Vojtěch; Mihaljevič, Martin; Kříbek, Bohdan; Mapani, Ben

    2017-02-01

    The leaching behaviors of primary copper (Cu) slags originating from Ausmelt, reverbatory, and converter furnaces operating under a single technological process were compared to a residual slag tailing obtained by slag re-processing via flotation and metal recovery. The EN 12457-2 leaching test, used for assessment of the hazardous properties, was followed by the CEN/TS 14997 pH-static leaching test (pH range 3-12). Both leaching experiments were coupled with a mineralogical investigation of the primary and secondary phases as well as geochemical modeling. Metals (Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn) exhibit the highest leaching at low pH. Under acidic conditions (pH 3-6), Ausmelt slag and slag tailing exhibited higher metal leaching compared to other slag types. Very low leaching of metals (far below EU limits for non-hazardous waste) was observed at natural pH (7.9-9.0) for all the studied slag samples. In contrast, relatively high leaching of As was observed over the entire pH range, especially for Ausmelt slag (exceeding the EU limit for hazardous waste by 1.7×). However, geochemical modeling and scanning electron microscopy indicated that formation of stable Ca-Cu-Pb arsenates and the binding of As to newly formed Fe (oxyhydr)oxides play an important role in efficient As immobilization at the slag-water interface. In contrast, no controls were predicted for Sb, whose leaching was almost pH-independent. Nevertheless Sb leached concentrations at natural pH were below EU limit for hazardous waste. Re-processing of primary Cu slags for metal recovery, and subsequent co-disposal of the resulting slag tailing with dolomite-rich mine tailing and local laterite is suitable for stabilizing the remaining contaminants (except Sb) and limiting their leaching into the environment. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. Sequential Leaching of Chromium Contaminated Sediments - A Study Characterizing Natural Attenuation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Musa, D.; Ding, M.; Beroff, S.; Rearick, M.; Perkins, G.; WoldeGabriel, G. W.; Ware, D.; Harris, R.; Kluk, E.; Katzman, D.; Reimus, P. W.; Heikoop, J. M.

    2015-12-01

    Natural attenuation is an important process in slowing down the transport of hexavalent chromium, Cr(VI), an anthropogenic environmental contaminant, either by adsorption of Cr(VI) to sediments, or by reduction to nontoxic trivalent chromium, Cr(III). The capacity and mechanism of attenuation is explored in this sequential leaching study of different particle size fractions of chromium contaminated sediments and similar uncontaminated sediments from the regional aquifer near Los Alamos, New Mexico. Using this leaching protocol each sediment sample is split in two: one half is leached three times using a 0.1 M sodium bicarbonate/carbonate solution, while the second half is leached three times using a 0.01 M nitric acid, followed by two consecutively increasing magnitudes of nitric acid concentrations. Based on the amphoteric nature of chromium, alkaline leaching is used to establish the amount of Cr(VI) sorbed on the sediment, whereas acid leaching is used to establish the amount of Cr(III). The weak acid is predicted to release the attenuated anthropogenic Cr(III), without affecting Cr-bearing minerals. The sequential, stronger, acid is anticipated to leach Cr(III)-incorporated in the minerals. The efficiency and validation of the sequential leaching method is assessed by comparing the leaching behavior of bentonite and biotite samples, with and without loaded Cr(VI). A 97% chromium mass balance of leached Cr(VI)-loaded bentonite and biotite proves the viability of this method for further use on leaching contaminated sediments. By comparing contaminated and uncontaminated sediment leachate results, of chromium and other major and trace elements, the signature of anthropogenic chromium is determined. Further mineralogical characterization of the sediments provides a quantitative measure of the natural attenuation capacity for chromium. Understanding these results is pertinent in delineating the optimal procedure for the remediation of Cr(VI) in the regional aquifer near Los Alamos.

  20. Leaching characteristics of toxic constituents from coal fly ash mixed soils under the influence of pH

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Komonweeraket, Kanokwan; Cetin, Bora, E-mail: bora.cetin@sdsmt.edu; Benson, Craig H., E-mail: chbenson@wisc.edu

    Highlights: • The impact of pH on the leaching of elements and metals from fly ash mixed soils. • Generally Ca, Cd, Mg, and Sr follows a cationic leaching pattern. • The leaching of As and Se shows an oxyanionic leaching pattern. • The leaching behavior of elements does not change based on material type. • Different fly ash types show different abilities in immobilizing trace elements. - Abstract: Leaching behaviors of Arsenic (As), Barium (Ba), Calcium (Ca), Cadmium (Cd), Magnesium (Mg), Selenium (Se), and Strontium (Sr) from soil alone, coal fly ash alone, and soil-coal fly ash mixtures, weremore » studied at a pH range of 2–14 via pH-dependent leaching tests. Seven different types of soils and coal fly ashes were tested. Results of this study indicated that Ca, Cd, Mg, and Sr showed cationic leaching pattern while As and Se generally follows an oxyanionic leaching pattern. On the other hand, leaching of Ba presented amphoteric-like leaching pattern but less pH-dependent. In spite of different types and composition of soil and coal fly ash investigated, the study reveals the similarity in leaching behavior as a function of pH for a given element from soil, coal fly ash, and soil-coal fly ash mixtures. The similarity is most likely due to similar controlling mechanisms (e.g., solubility, sorption, and solid-solution formation) and similar controlling factors (e.g., leachate pH and redox conditions). This offers the opportunity to transfer knowledge of coal fly ash that has been extensively characterized and studied to soil stabilized with coal fly ash. It is speculated that unburned carbon in off-specification coal fly ashes may provide sorption sites for Cd resulting in a reduction in concentration of these elements in leachate from soil-coal fly ash mixture. Class C fly ash provides sufficient CaO to initiate the pozzolanic reaction yielding hydrated cement products that oxyanions, including As and Se, can be incorporated into.« less

  1. PEP Support Laboratory Leaching and Permeate Stability Tests

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Russell, Renee L.; Peterson, Reid A.; Rinehart, Donald E.

    2009-09-25

    Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has been tasked by Bechtel National Inc. (BNI) on the River Protection Project-Hanford Tank Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (RPP-WTP) project to perform research and development activities to resolve technical issues identified for the Pretreatment Facility (PTF). The Pretreatment Engineering Platform (PEP) was designed, constructed, and operated as part of a plan to respond to issue M12, "Undemonstrated Leaching Processes," of the External Flowsheet Review Team (EFRT) issue response plan.( ) The PEP is a 1/4.5-scale test platform designed to simulate the WTP pretreatment caustic leaching, oxidative leaching, ultrafiltration solids concentration, and slurry washing processes.more » The PEP replicates the WTP leaching processes using prototypic equipment and control strategies. A simplified flow diagram of the PEP system is shown in Figure 1.1. Two operating scenarios are currently being evaluated for the ultrafiltration process (UFP) and leaching operations. The first scenario has caustic leaching performed in the UFP-2 ultrafiltration feed vessels (i.e., vessel UFP-VSL-T02A in the PEP and vessels UFP-VSL-00002A and B in the WTP PTF). The second scenario has caustic leaching conducted in the UFP-1 ultrafiltration feed preparation vessels (i.e., vessels UFP-VSL-T01A and B in the PEP and vessels UFP-VSL-00001A and B in the WTP PTF). In both scenarios, 19-M sodium hydroxide solution (NaOH, caustic) is added to the waste slurry in the vessels to leach solid aluminum compounds (e.g., gibbsite, boehmite). Caustic addition is followed by a heating step that uses direct injection of steam to accelerate the leach process. Following the caustic leach, the vessel contents are cooled using vessel cooling jackets and/or external heat exchangers. The main difference between the two scenarios is that for leaching in UFP-VSL-T01A and B, the 19-M NaOH is added to un-concentrated waste slurry (3 to 8 wt% solids), while for leaching in UFP-VSL-T02A, the slurry is concentrated to nominally 20 wt% solids using cross-flow ultrafiltration before adding caustic.« less

  2. DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Josephson, Gary B.; Geeting, John GH; Bredt, Ofelia P.

    Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has been tasked by Bechtel National Inc. (BNI) on the River Protection Project-Waste Treatment Plant (RPP-WTP) project to perform research and development activities to resolve technical issues identified for the Pretreatment Facility (PTF). The Pretreatment Engineering Platform (PEP) was designed, constructed, and operated as part of a plan to respond to issue M12, "Undemonstrated Leaching Processes." The PEP is a 1/4.5-scale test platform designed to simulate the WTP pretreatment caustic leaching, oxidative leaching, ultrafiltration solids concentration, and slurry washing processes. The PEP replicates the WTP leaching processes using prototypic equipment and control strategies. The PEPmore » also includes non-prototypic ancillary equipment to support the core processing. Two operating scenarios are currently being evaluated for the ultrafiltration process (UFP) and leaching operations. The first scenario has caustic leaching performed in the UFP-2 ultrafiltration feed vessels (i.e., vessel UFP-VSL-T02A in the PEP; and vessels UFP-VSL-00002A and B in the WTP PTF). The second scenario has caustic leaching conducted in the UFP-1 ultrafiltration feed preparation vessels (i.e., vessels UFP-VSL-T01A and B in the PEP; vessels UFP-VSL-00001A and B in the WTP PTF). In both scenarios, 19-M sodium hydroxide solution (NaOH, caustic) is added to the waste slurry in the vessels to leach solid aluminum compounds (e.g., gibbsite, boehmite). Caustic addition is followed by a heating step that uses direct injection of steam to accelerate the leach process. Following the caustic leach, the vessel contents are cooled using vessel cooling jackets and/or external heat exchangers. The main difference between the two scenarios is that for leaching in UFP-1, the 19-M NaOH is added to un-concentrated waste slurry (3-8 wt% solids), while for leaching in UFP-2, the slurry is concentrated to nominally 20 wt% solids using cross-flow ultrafiltration before the addition of caustic. In both scenarios, following the caustic leach, the slurry was then concentrated to 17 wt% and washed with inhibited water to remove NaOH and other soluble salts. Next, the slurry was oxidatively leached using sodium permanganate to solubilize chrome. The slurry was then washed to remove the dissolved chrome and concentrated.« less

  3. EFRT M12 Issue Resolution: Comparison of PEP and Bench-Scale Oxidative Leaching Results

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Rapko, Brian M.; Brown, Christopher F.; Eslinger, Paul W.

    2009-08-14

    Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has been tasked by Bechtel National Inc. (BNI) on the River Protection Project-Hanford Tank Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (RPP-WTP) project to perform research and development activities to resolve technical issues identified for the Pretreatment Facility (PTF). The Pretreatment Engineering Platform (PEP) was designed and constructed and is to be operated as part of a plan to respond to issue M12, “Undemonstrated Leaching Processes.” The PEP is a 1/4.5-scale test platform designed to simulate the WTP pretreatment caustic leaching, oxidative leaching, ultrafiltration solids concentration, and slurry washing processes. The PEP replicates the WTP leaching processesmore » using prototypic equipment and control strategies. The PEP also includes non-prototypic ancillary equipment to support the core processing. Two operating scenarios are currently being evaluated for the ultrafiltration process (UFP) and leaching operations. The first scenario has caustic leaching performed in the UFP-2 ultrafiltration feed vessels (i.e., vessel UFP-VSL-T02A in the PEP; and vessels UFP-VSL-00002A and B in the WTP PTF). The second scenario has caustic leaching conducted in the UFP-1 ultrafiltration feed preparation vessels (i.e., vessels UFP-VSL-T01A and B in the PEP; vessels UFP-VSL-00001A and B in the WTP PTF). In both scenarios, 19-M sodium hydroxide solution (NaOH, caustic) is added to the waste slurry in the vessels to dissolve solid aluminum compounds (e.g., gibbsite, boehmite). Caustic addition is followed by a heating step that uses direct steam injection to accelerate the leaching process. Following the caustic leach, the vessel contents are cooled using vessel cooling jackets and/or external heat exchangers. The main difference between the two scenarios is that for leaching in UFP1, the 19-M NaOH is added to un-concentrated waste slurry (3 to 8 wt% solids), while for leaching in UFP2, the slurry is concentrated to nominally 20 wt% solids using cross-flow ultrafiltration before the addition of caustic. For wastes that have significantly high chromium content, the caustic leaching and slurry dewatering is followed by adding sodium permanganate to UFP-VSL-T02A, and the slurry is subjected to oxidative leaching at nominally ambient temperature. The purpose of the oxidative leaching is to selectively oxidize the poorly alkaline-soluble Cr(III) believed to be the insoluble form in Hanford tank sludge to the much more alkaline-soluble Cr(VI), e.g., chromate. The work described in this report provides the test results that are related to the efficiency of the oxidative leaching process to support process modeling based on tests performed with a Hanford waste simulant. The tests were completed both at the lab-bench scale and in the PEP. The purpose of this report is to summarize the results from both scales that are related to oxidative leaching chemistry to support a scale factor for the submodels to be used in the G2 model, which predicts WTP operating performance. Owing to schedule constraints, the PEP test data to be included in this report are limited to those from Integrated Tests A (T01 A/B caustic leaching) and B (T02A caustic leaching).« less

  4. The dissolution kinetics of major elements in municipal solid waste incineration bottom ash particles

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bendz, David; Tüchsen, Peter L.; Christensen, Thomas H.

    2007-12-01

    Leaching and tracer experiments in batches at L/S 20 were performed with 3-month-old MSWI bottom ash separated into eight different particle sizes. The time-dependent leaching of major elements (Ca 2+, K +, Na +, Cl - and SO 4- 2 ) was monitored for up to 747 h. Physical properties of the particles, the specific surface (BET), pore volume and pore volume distribution over pore sizes (BJH) were determined for all particle classes by N 2 adsorption/desorption experiments. Some common features of physical pore structure for all particles were revealed. The specific surface and the particle pore volume were found to be negatively correlated with particle size, ranging from 3.2 m 2/g to 25.7 m 2/g for the surface area and from 0.0086 cm 3/g to 0.091 cm 3/g for the pore volume. Not surprisingly, the specific surface area was found to be the major material parameter that governed the leaching behavior for all elements (Ca 2+, K +, Na +, Cl - and SO 4- 2 ) and particle sizes. The diffusion resistance was determined independently by separate tracer (tritium) experiments. Diffusion gave a significant contribution to the apparent leaching kinetics for all elements during the first 10-40 h (depending on the particle size) of leaching and surface reaction was the overall rate controlling mechanism at late times for all particle sizes. For Ca 2+ and SO 4- 2 , the coupled effect of diffusion resistance and the degree of undersaturation in the intra particle pore volume was found to be a major rate limiting dissolution mechanism for both early and late times. The solubility control in the intra particulate porosity may undermine any attempt to treat bottom ash by washing out the sulfate. Even for high liquid/solid ratios, the solubility in the intra-particular porosity will limit the release rate.

  5. Technological and economic aspects of coal biodesulfurisation.

    PubMed

    Klein, J

    1998-01-01

    The sulfur found in coal is either part of the molecular coal structure (organically bound sulfur), is contained in minerals such as pyrite (FeS2), or occurs in minor quantities in the form of sulfate and elemental sulfur. When pyrite crystals are finely distributed within the coal matrix, mechanical cleaning can only remove part of the pyrite. It can, however, be removed by microbial action requiring only mild conditions. The process involves simple equipment, almost no chemicals, but relatively long reaction times, and treatment of iron sulfate containing process water. Different process configurations are possible, depending on the coal particle size. Coal with particle sizes of less than 0.5 mm is preferably desulfurised in slurry reactors, while lump coal (> 0.5 mm) should be treated in heaps. Investment and operating costs are estimated for different process configurations on an industrial scale. Concerning the organically bound sulfur in coal there is up to now no promising biochemical pathway for the degradation and/or desulfurisation of such compounds.

  6. Recovery of MSWI and soil washing residues as concrete aggregates.

    PubMed

    Sorlini, Sabrina; Abbà, Alessandro; Collivignarelli, Carlo

    2011-02-01

    The aim of the present work was to study if municipal solid waste incinerator (MSWI) residues and aggregates derived from contaminated soil washing could be used as alternative aggregates for concrete production. Initially, chemical, physical and geometric characteristics (according to UNI EN 12620) of municipal solid waste incineration bottom ashes and some contaminated soils were evaluated; moreover, the pollutants release was evaluated by means of leaching tests. The results showed that the reuse of pre-treated MSWI bottom ash and washed soil is possible, either from technical or environmental point of view, while it is not possible for the raw wastes. Then, the natural aggregate was partially and totally replaced with these recycled aggregates for the production of concrete mixtures that were characterized by conventional mechanical and leaching tests. Good results were obtained using the same dosage of a high resistance cement (42.5R calcareous Portland cement instead of 32.5R); the concrete mixture containing 400 kg/m(3) of washed bottom ash and high resistance cement was classified as structural concrete (C25/30 class). Regarding the pollutants leaching, all concrete mixtures respected the limit values according to the Italian regulation. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. Dynamics of silver elution from functionalised antimicrobial nanofiltration membranes.

    PubMed

    Choudhari, S; Habimana, O; Hannon, J; Allen, A; Cummins, E; Casey, E

    2017-07-01

    In an effort to mitigate biofouling on thin film composite membranes such as nanofiltration and reverse osmosis, a myriad of different surface modification strategies has been published. The use of silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) has emerged as being particularly promising. Nevertheless, the stability of these surface modifications is still poorly understood, particularly under permeate flux conditions. Leaching or elution of Ag-NPs from the membrane surface can not only affect the antimicrobial characteristics of the membrane, but could also potentially present an environmental liability when applied in industrial-scale systems. This study sought to investigate the dynamics of silver elution and the bactericidal effect of an Ag-NP functionalised NF270 membrane. Inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy was used to show that the bulk of leached silver occurred at the start of experimental runs, and was found to be independent of salt or permeate conditions used. Cumulative amounts of leached silver did, however, stabilise following the initial release, and were shown to have maintained the biocidal characteristics of the modified membrane, as observed by a higher fraction of structurally damaged Pseudomonas fluorescens cells. These results highlight the need to comprehensively assess the time-dependent nature of bactericidal membranes.

  8. 25 CFR 171.305 - Will BIA provide leaching service to me?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... 25 Indians 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Will BIA provide leaching service to me? 171.305 Section... OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE Water Use § 171.305 Will BIA provide leaching service to me? (a) We may provide you leaching service if: (1) You submit a written plan that documents how soil salinity limits your...

  9. 25 CFR 171.305 - Will BIA provide leaching service to me?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-04-01

    ... 25 Indians 1 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Will BIA provide leaching service to me? 171.305 Section... OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE Water Use § 171.305 Will BIA provide leaching service to me? (a) We may provide you leaching service if: (1) You submit a written plan that documents how soil salinity limits your...

  10. Chapter 14: Evaluating the Leaching of Biocides from Preservative-Treated Wood Products

    Treesearch

    Stan T. Lebow

    2014-01-01

    Leaching of biocides is an important consideration in the long term durability and any potential for environmental impact of treated wood products. This chapter discusses factors affecting biocide leaching, as well as methods of evaluating rate and quantity of biocide released. The extent of leaching is a function of preservative formulation, treatment methods, wood...

  11. Technical Note: Comparison of accelerated methods for evaluating leaching from preservative-treated wood

    Treesearch

    Stan T. Lebow; Patricia K. Lebow; Kolby C. Hirth

    2017-01-01

    Current standardized methods are not well-suited for estimating in-service preservative leaching from treated wood products. This study compared several alternative leaching methods to a commonly used standard method, and to leaching under natural exposure conditions. Small blocks or lumber specimens were pressure treated with a wood preservative containing borax and...

  12. Studies on leaching from spruce twigs and beech leaves.

    PubMed

    Fritsche, U

    1992-01-01

    Leaching, depending on the acidity of the eluent, was investigated for K, Mg and Mn. The curves for the leachate concentration versus time could be described by a power function. Leaching from old needles exceeded leaching from young needles to a high degree, but the ratios of the leached elements were almost equal. A method for continuous measurements of pH change in solutions contacting plant materials was developed. The results were in agreement with data on acidity changes in water falling through spruce or beech canopies.

  13. PROCESS FOR RECOVERY OF URANIUM AND VANADIUM FROM CARBONATE SOLUTIONS BY REDUCTION-PRECIPITATION

    DOEpatents

    Ellis, D.A.; Lindblom, R.O.

    1957-09-24

    A process employing carbonate leaching of ores and an advantageous methcd of recovering the uranium and vanadium from the leach solution is described. The uranium and vanadium can be precipitated from carbonate leach solutions by reaction with sodium amalgam leaving the leach solution in such a condition that it is economical to replenish for recycling. Such a carbonate leach solution is treated with a dilute sodium amalgam having a sodium concentration within a range of about 0.01 to 0.5% of sodium. Efficiency of the treatment is dependent on at least three additional factors, intimacy of contact of the amalgam with the leach solution, rate of addition of the amalgam and exclusion of oxygen (air).

  14. Marine Corps Leadership: Empowering or Limiting the Strategic Corporal?

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2008-03-01

    burner. Finally, day care and nannies enabled both boomer parents to enter the work force. 5 "Generation X did not receive the attention heaped on the...but instead attempt to restore, rebuild, repair, replace and renovate institutions or invent new institutions that will promote the common good.,,9...Millennial Generation’s parents have been dubbed helicopter parents because of their incessant hovering over their children. 12 Finally, the Millennial’s

  15. Air Mass Considerations in Fog Optical Modeling.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1981-02-01

    Other microphysical quantities whi.-h are frequently used include the mean radius, the mode radius, and the liquid water content. All these quantities...Commerce .a~ il -’ ecommunications and Commander nr1~nAdministration Ja) Arm~y Comined Arms Center *,Y nn-l t n elecommunication Sciences, & Fort !-eav...Forecasting Selected Weather Variables (Emphasizinq Remote Means )," ASL-TR-O001, January 1978. 73. Heaps, Melvin G., "The 1979 Solar Eclipse and Validation

  16. Let your name be known. OB-GYN practice's marketing strategies keep it prominent in community.

    PubMed

    Schneck, Lisa H

    2003-08-01

    Take a large dose of innovation, add a dollop of shrewd business sense and a heaping measure of community awareness, mix well, and you get the marketing success enjoyed by San Dimas Medical Group Inc. of Bakersfield, Calif. The practice has established wide name recognition, become a community benefactor and positioned itself as the practice that local women want to visit for a wide range of health concerns.

  17. Generalized Abstract Symbolic Summaries

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Person, Suzette; Dwyer, Matthew B.

    2009-01-01

    Current techniques for validating and verifying program changes often consider the entire program, even for small changes, leading to enormous V&V costs over a program s lifetime. This is due, in large part, to the use of syntactic program techniques which are necessarily imprecise. Building on recent advances in symbolic execution of heap manipulating programs, in this paper, we develop techniques for performing abstract semantic differencing of program behaviors that offer the potential for improved precision.

  18. Leaching characteristics of calcium-based compounds in MSWI Residues: From the viewpoint of clogging risk.

    PubMed

    Xia, Yi; Zhang, Hua; Phoungthong, Khamphe; Shi, Dong-Xiao; Shen, Wen-Hui; Shao, Li-Ming; He, Pin-Jing

    2015-08-01

    Leachate collection system (LCS) clogging caused by calcium precipitation would be disadvantageous to landfill stability and operation. Meanwhile, calcium-based compounds are the main constituents in both municipal solid waste incineration bottom ash (MSWIBA) and stabilized air pollution control residues (SAPCR), which would increase the risk of LCS clogging once these calcium-rich residues were disposed in landfills. The leaching behaviors of calcium from the four compounds and municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) residues were studied, and the influencing factors on leaching were discussed. The results showed that pH was the crucial factor in the calcium leaching process. CaCO3 and CaSiO3 began leaching when the leachate pH decreased to less than 7 and 10, respectively, while Ca3(PO4)2 leached at pH<12. CaSO4 could hardly dissolve in the experimental conditions. Moreover, the sequence of the leaching rate for the different calcium-based compounds is as follows: CaSiO3>Ca3(PO4)2>CaCO3. The calcium leaching from the MSWIBA and SAPCR separately started from pH<7 and pH<12, resulting from CaCO3 and Ca3(PO4)2 leaching respectively, which was proven by the X-ray diffraction results. Based on the leaching characteristics of the different calcium compounds and the mineral phase of calcium in the incineration residues, simulated computation of their clogging potential was conducted, providing the theoretical basis for the risk assessment pertaining to LCS clogging in landfills. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. Sustainable recovery of valuable metals from spent lithium-ion batteries using DL-malic acid: Leaching and kinetics aspect.

    PubMed

    Sun, Conghao; Xu, Liping; Chen, Xiangping; Qiu, Tianyun; Zhou, Tao

    2018-02-01

    An eco-friendly and benign process has been investigated for the dissolution of Li, Co, Ni, and Mn from the cathode materials of spent LiNi 1/3 Co 1/3 Mn 1/3 O 2 batteries, using DL-malic acid as the leaching agent in this study. The leaching efficiencies of Li, Co, Ni, and Mn can reach about 98.9%, 94.3%, 95.1%, and 96.4%, respectively, under the leaching conditions of DL-malic acid concentration of 1.2 M, hydrogen peroxide content of 1.5 vol.%, solid-to-liquid ratio of 40 g l -1 , leaching temperature of 80°C, and leaching time of 30 min. In addition, the leaching kinetic was investigated based on the shrinking model and the results reveal that the leaching reaction is controlled by chemical reactions within 10 min with activation energies (Ea) of 21.3 kJ·mol -1 , 30.4 kJ·mol -1 , 27.9 kJ·mol -1 , and 26.2 kJ·mol -1 for Li, Co, Ni, and Mn, respectively. Diffusion process becomes the controlled step with a prolonged leaching time from 15 to 30 min, and the activation energies (Ea) are 20.2 kJ·mol -1 , 28.9 kJ·mol -1 , 26.3 kJ·mol -1 , and 25.0 kJ·mol -1 for Li, Co, Ni, and Mn, respectively. This hydrometallurgical route was found to be effective and environmentally friendly for leaching metals from spent lithium batteries.

  20. A sustainable process for the recovery of valuable metals from spent lithium-ion batteries.

    PubMed

    Fan, Bailin; Chen, Xiangping; Zhou, Tao; Zhang, Jinxia; Xu, Bao

    2016-05-01

    In this work, an eco-friendly and hydrometallurgical process for the recovery of cobalt and lithium from spent lithium-ion batteries has been proposed, which includes pretreatment, citric acid leaching, selective chemical precipitation and circulatory leaching. After pretreatment (manual dismantling, N-methyl pyrrolidone immersion and calcination), Cu and Al foils are recycled directly and the cathode active materials are separated from the cathode efficiently. Then, the obtained cathode active materials (waste LiCoO2) was firstly leached with 1.25 mol l(-1) citric acid and 1 vol.% H2O2 solution. Then cobalt was precipitated using oxalic acid (H2C2O4) under a molar ratio of 1:1.05 (H2C2O4: Co(2+)). After filtration, the filtrate (containing Li(+)) and H2O2 was employed as a leaching agent and the optimum conditions are studied in detail. The leaching efficiencies can reach as high as 98% for Li and 90.2% for Co, respectively, using filter liquor as leaching reagent under conditions of leaching temperature of 90°C, 0.9 vol.% H2O2 and a solid-to-liquid ratio of 60 ml g(-1) for 35 min. After three bouts of circulatory leaching, more than 90% Li and 80% Co can be leached under the same leaching conditions. In this way, Li and Co can be recovered efficiently and waste liquor re-utilization is achievable with this hydrometallurgical process, which may promise both economic and environmental benefits. © The Author(s) 2016.

  1. Thermal treatment of stabilized air pollution control residues in a waste incinerator pilot plant. Part 2: Leaching characteristics of bottom ashes.

    PubMed

    Baun, Dorthe L; Christensen, Thomas H; Bergfeldt, Brita; Vehlow, Jürgen; Mogensen, Erhardt P B

    2004-02-01

    With the perspective of generating only one solid residue from waste incineration, co-feeding of municipal solid waste and air pollution control residues stabilized by the Ferrox process was investigated in the TAMARA pilot plant incinerator as described in Bergfeldt et al. (Waste Management Research, 22, 49-57, 2004). This paper reports on leaching from the combined bottom ashes. Batch leaching test, pH-static leaching tests, availability tests and column leaching tests were used to characterize the leaching properties. The leaching properties are key information in the context of reuse in construction or in landfilling of the combined residue. In general, the combined bottom ashes had leaching characteristics similar to the reference bottom ash, which contained no APC residue. However, As and Pb showed slightly elevated leaching from the combined bottom ashes, while Cr showed less leaching. The investigated combined bottom ashes had contents of metals comparable to what is expected at steady state after continuous co-feeding of APC residues. Only Cd and Pb were partly volatilized (30-40%) during the incineration process and thus the combined bottom ashes had lower contents of Cd and Pb than expected at steady state. Furthermore, a major loss of Hg was, not surprisingly, seen and co-feeding of Ferrox-products together with municipal solid waste will require dedicated removal of Hg in the flue gas to prevent a build up of Hg in the system. In spite of this, a combined single solid residue from waste incineration seems to be a significant environmental improvement to current technology.

  2. Leaching from solid waste incineration ashes used in cement-treated base layers for pavements.

    PubMed

    Cai, Z; Bager, Dirch H; Christensen, T H

    2004-01-01

    Waste incineration bottom ash and treated flue gas cleaning products mixed with 2.5% of cement (50 kg/m3) were tested in the laboratory in terms of compressive strength and tank leaching tests over a 64-day period. Although the material displayed lower mechanical strength than a reference concrete, the strength still was sufficient for use as a base layer for roads. The metal content in the incineration-residue-based specimens was up to 100 times higher than in the reference concrete, suggesting that the mixed waste incineration residue should be used only for dedicated purposes. The leaching of Cl and Na was increased by a factor of 20-100 from the incineration-residue-based specimens as compared to the reference, while the leaching of K, Ca and SO4 was increased by a factor of 2-10. The leaching of heavy metals was also higher from the incineration-residue-based specimens than from the reference with respect to Cu (50 times), Cd, Pb and Zn (5 times), but not with respect to Cr and Ni. The leaching curves did only allow for a closer evaluation of the leaching process in a few cases. The physical retention of the constituents seemed to be the same in the reference as in the incineration-residue-based specimens. Heavy metal leaching was limited by enhanced chemical retention in the incineration-residue-specimens as compared to the reference. Since no quality criteria in terms of leaching from a monolithic material are currently available, the leaching issue must be evaluated case by case.

  3. Maximum availability and mineralogical control of chromium released from AOD slag.

    PubMed

    Li, Junguo; Liu, Bao; Zeng, Yanan; Wang, Ziming; Gao, Zhiyuan

    2017-03-01

    AOD (argon oxygen decarburization) slag is the by-product in the stainless steel refining process. Chromium existing in AOD slag can leach out and probably poses a serious threat to the environment. To assess the leaching toxicity of chromium released from AOD slag, the temperature-dependent maximum availability leaching test was performed. To determine the controlling mineralogical phases of chromium released from AOD slag, a Visual MINTEQ simulation was established based on Vminteq30 and the FactSage 7.0 database. The leaching tests indicated that the leaching availability of chromium was slight and mainly consisted of trivalent chromium. Aging of AOD slag under the atmosphere can oxidize trivalent chromium to hexavalent chromium, which could be leached out by rainwater. According to the simulation, the chromium concentration in leachates was controlled by the freely soluble pseudo-binary phases in the pH = 7.0 leaching process and controlled by the Cr 2 O 3 phase in the pH = 4.0 leaching process. Chromium concentrations were underestimated when the controlling phases were determined to be FeCr 2 O 4 and MgCr 2 O 4 . Facilitating the generation of the insoluble spinel-like phases during the cooling and disposal process of the molten slag could be an effective approach to decreasing the leaching concentration of chromium and its environmental risk.

  4. Selective recovery of gold from waste mobile phone PCBs by hydrometallurgical process.

    PubMed

    Kim, Eun-young; Kim, Min-seuk; Lee, Jae-chun; Pandey, B D

    2011-12-30

    The leaching of gold from the scrap mobile phone PCBs by electro-generated chlorine as an oxidant and its recovery by ion exchange process was investigated. The leaching experiments were carried out by employing separate leaching reactor connected with the anode compartment of a Cl(2) gas generator. The leaching of gold increased with increase in temperature and initial concentration of chlorine, and was favorable even at low concentration of acid, whereas copper leaching increased with increase in concentration of acid and decrease in temperature. In a two-stage leaching process, copper was mostly dissolved (97%) in 165 min at 25°C during the 1st stage leaching in 2.0 mol/L HCl by electro-generated chlorine at a current density of 714A/m(2) along with a minor recovery of gold (5%). In the 2nd stage gold was mostly leached out (93% recovery, ∼67 mg/L) from the residue of the 1st stage by the electro-generated chlorine in 0.1 mol/L HCl. Gold recovery from the leach liquor by ion exchange using Amberlite XAD-7HP resin was found to be 95% with the maximum amount of gold adsorbed as 46.03 mg/g resin. A concentrated gold solution, 6034 mg/L with 99.9% purity was obtained in the ion exchange process. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  5. Rare earth element recycling from waste nickel-metal hydride batteries.

    PubMed

    Yang, Xiuli; Zhang, Junwei; Fang, Xihui

    2014-08-30

    With an increase in number of waste nickel-metal hydride batteries, and because of the importance of rare earth elements, the recycling of rare earth elements is becoming increasingly important. In this paper, we investigate the effects of temperature, hydrochloric acid concentration, and leaching time to optimize leaching conditions and determine leach kinetics. The results indicate that an increase in temperature, hydrochloric acid concentration, and leaching time enhance the leaching rate of rare earth elements. A maximum rare earth elements recovery of 95.16% was achieved at optimal leaching conditions of 70°C, solid/liquid ratio of 1:10, 20% hydrochloric acid concentration, -74μm particle size, and 100min leaching time. The experimental data were best fitted by a chemical reaction-controlled model. The activation energy was 43.98kJ/mol and the reaction order for hydrochloric acid concentration was 0.64. The kinetic equation for the leaching process was found to be: 1-(1-x)(1/3)=A/ρr0[HCl](0.64)exp-439,8008.314Tt. After leaching and filtration, by adding saturated oxalic solution to the filtrate, rare earth element oxalates were obtained. After removing impurities by adding ammonia, filtering, washing with dilute hydrochloric acid, and calcining at 810°C, a final product of 99% pure rare earth oxides was obtained. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  6. Impact of bimodal textural heterogeneity and connectivity on flow and transport through unsaturated mine waste rock

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Appels, Willemijn M.; Ireson, Andrew M.; Barbour, S. Lee

    2018-02-01

    Mine waste rock dumps have highly variable flowpaths caused by contrasting textures and geometry of materials laid down during the 'plug dumping' process. Numerical experiments were conducted to investigate how these characteristics control unsaturated zone flow and transport. Hypothetical profiles of inner-lift structure were generated with multiple point statistics and populated with hydraulic parameters of a finer and coarser material. Early arrival of water and solutes at the bottom of the lifts was observed after spring snowmelt. The leaching efficiency, a measure of the proportion of a resident solute that is flushed out of the rock via infiltrating snowmelt or rainfall, was consistently high, but modified by the structure and texture of the lift. Under high rates of net percolation during snowmelt, preferential flow was generated in coarse textured part of the rock, and solutes in the fine textured parts of the rock remained stagnant. Under lower rates of net percolation during the summer and fall, finer materialswere flushed too, and the spatial variability of solute concentration in the lift was reduced. Layering of lifts leads to lower flow rates at depth, minimizing preferential flow and increased leaching of resident solutes. These findings highlight the limited role of large scale connected geometries on focusing flow and transport under dynamic surface net percolation conditions. As such, our findings agree with recent numerical results from soil studies with Gaussian connected geometries as well as recent experimental findings, emphasizing the dominant role of matrix flow and high leaching efficiency in large waste rock dumps.

  7. Multistage leaching of metals from spent lithium ion battery waste using electrochemically generated acidic lixiviant.

    PubMed

    Boxall, N J; Adamek, N; Cheng, K Y; Haque, N; Bruckard, W; Kaksonen, A H

    2018-04-01

    Lithium ion battery (LIB) waste contains significant valuable resources that could be recovered and reused to manufacture new products. This study aimed to develop an alternative process for extracting metals from LIB waste using acidic solutions generated by electrolysis for leaching. Results showed that solutions generated by electrolysis of 0.5 M NaCl at 8 V with graphite or mixed metal oxide (MMO) electrodes were weakly acidic and leach yields obtained under single stage (batch) leaching were poor (<10%). This was due to the highly acid-consuming nature of the battery waste. Multistage leaching with the graphite electrolyte solution improved leach yields overall, but the electrodes corroded over time. Though yields obtained with both electrolyte leach solutions were low when compared to the 4 M HCl control, there still remains potential to optimise the conditions for the generation of the acidic anolyte solution and the solubilisation of valuable metals from the LIB waste. A preliminary value proposition indicated that the process has the potential to be economically feasible if leach yields can be improved, especially based on the value of recoverable cobalt and lithium. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. A comparison of ultrasound-augmented and conventional leaching of silver from sintering dust using acidic thiourea.

    PubMed

    Chang, Jun; Zhang, Er-Dong; Zhang, Li-Bo; Peng, Jin-Hui; Zhou, Jun-Wen; Srinivasakannan, C; Yang, Chang-Jiang

    2017-01-01

    In the process of steel manufacture, up to ten millions of tons of sintering dust (SD) are produced annually in China, which contain noble metals such as Ag. Therefore, recovery of silver (Ag) from SD could be a potential economic and environmental activity. The purpose of this article is to generate information about reaction kinetics of silver leaching with thiourea from SD, comparing the conventional and ultrasonic-augment leaching. The effects of various control parameters such as the ultrasound power, particle size, leaching temperature and thiourea concentration on leaching rate of silver were studied. The results showed 89% silver recovery for conventional process against 95% for ultrasound assisted leaching. The ultrasonic wave increased the leaching rate and shorten the reaction time. The rate controlling step was analyzed using shrinking core model and the rate controlling step is identified to be the diffusion through the product layer in both conventional and ultrasonic-augment leaching processes. The activation energies were estimated to be 28.01kJ/mol and 18.19kJ/mol, and the reaction order were 0.89 and 0.71, respectively. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  9. Evaluation of six pesticides leaching indexes using field data of herbicide application in Casablanca Valley, Chile.

    PubMed

    Kogan, M; Rojas, S; Gómez, P; Suárez, F; Muñoz, J F; Alister, C

    2007-01-01

    A field study was performed to evaluate the accuracy of six pesticide screening leaching indexes for herbicide movement. Adsorption, dissipation and soil movement were studied in a vineyard in a sandy loam soil during 2005 season. Simazine, diuron, pendimethalin, oxyfluorfen and flumioxazin were applied to bare soil at rates commonly used, and their soil concentrations throughout soil profile were determined at 0, 10, 20, 40 and 90 days after application (DAA). Herbicides were subjected to two pluviometric regimens, natural field condition and modified conditions (plus natural rainfall 180 mm). Leaching indexes utilized were: Briggs's Rf, Hamaker's Rf, LEACH, LPI, GUS and LIX. Simazine reached 120 cm, diuron 90 cm, flumioxazin 30 cm soil depth respectively. Pendimethalin and oxyfluorfen were retained up to 5 cm. None of the herbicides leaching was affected by rainfall regimen. Only flumioxazin field dissipation was clearly affected by pluviometric condition. The best representation of the herbicide soil depth movement and leaching below 15 cm soil depth were: Hamaker's Rf < Briggs's Rf < GUS < LPI, < LEACH < LIX. Field results showed a good correlation between herbicides K(d) and their soil depth movement and mass leached below 15 cm soil depth.

  10. Co-treatment of spent cathode carbon in caustic and acid leaching process under ultrasonic assisted for preparation of SiC.

    PubMed

    Yuan, Jie; Xiao, Jin; Li, Fachuang; Wang, Bingjie; Yao, Zhen; Yu, Bailie; Zhang, Liuyun

    2018-03-01

    Spent cathode carbon (SCC) from aluminum electrolysis has been treated in ultrasonic-assisted caustic leaching and acid leaching process, and purified SCC used as carbon source to synthesize silicon carbide (SiC) was investigated. Chemical and mineralogical properties have been characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and thermogravimetry and differential scanning calorimetry (TGA-DSC). Various experimental factors temperature, time, liquid-solid ratio, ultrasonic power, and initial concentration of alkali or acid affecting on SCC leaching result were studied. After co-treatment with ultrasonic-assisted caustic leaching and acid leaching, carbon content of leaching residue was 97.53%. SiC power was synthesized by carbothermal reduction at 1600 °C, as a result of yield of 76.43%, and specific surface area of 4378 cm 2 /g. This is the first report of using purified SCC and gangue to prepare SiC. The two industrial wastes have been used newly as secondary sources. Furthermore, ultrasonic showed significant effect in SCC leaching process. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  11. Optimization of reaction conditions for the electroleaching of manganese from low-grade pyrolusite

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, Xing-ran; Liu, Zuo-hua; Fan, Xing; Lian, Xin; Tao, Chang-yuan

    2015-11-01

    In the present study, a response surface methodology was used to optimize the electroleaching of Mn from low-grade pyrolusite. Ferrous sulfate heptahydrate was used in this reaction as a reducing agent in sulfuric acid solutions. The effect of six process variables, including the mass ratio of ferrous sulfate heptahydrate to pyrolusite, mass ratio of sulfuric acid to pyrolusite, liquid-to-solid ratio, current density, leaching temperature, and leaching time, as well as their binary interactions, were modeled. The results revealed that the order of these factors with respect to their effects on the leaching efficiency were mass ratio of ferrous sulfate heptahydrate to pyrolusite > leaching time > mass ratio of sulfuric acid to pyrolusite > liquid-to-solid ratio > leaching temperature > current density. The optimum conditions were as follows: 1.10:1 mass ratio of ferrous sulfate heptahydrate to pyrolusite, 0.9:1 mass ratio of sulfuric acid to pyrolusite, liquid-to-solid ratio of 0.7:1, current density of 947 A/m2, leaching time of 180 min, and leaching temperature of 73°C. Under these conditions, the predicted leaching efficiency for Mn was 94.1%; the obtained experimental result was 95.7%, which confirmed the validity of the model.

  12. Removal of hazardous metals from MSW fly ash--an evaluation of ash leaching methods.

    PubMed

    Fedje, Karin Karlfeldt; Ekberg, Christian; Skarnemark, Gunnar; Steenari, Britt-Marie

    2010-01-15

    Incineration is a commonly applied management method for municipal solid waste (MSW). However, significant amounts of potentially hazardous metal species are present in the resulting ash, and these may be leached into the environment. A common idea for cleaning the ash is to use enhanced leaching with strong mineral acids. However, due to the alkalinity of the ash, large amounts of acid are needed and this is a drawback. Therefore, this work was undertaken in order to investigate some alternative leaching media (EDTA, ammonium nitrate, ammonium chloride and a number of organic acids) and to compare them with the usual mineral acids and water. All leaching methods gave a significant increase in ash specific surface area due to removal of soluble bulk (matrix) compounds, such as CaCO(3) and alkali metal chlorides. The use of mineral acids and EDTA mobilised many elements, especially Cu, Zn and Pb, whereas the organic acids generally were not very effective as leaching agents for metals. Leaching using NH(4)NO(3) was especially effective for the release of Cu. The results show that washing of MSW filter ash with alternative leaching agents is a possible way to remove hazardous metals from MSW fly ash.

  13. Counter-current acid leaching process for copper azole treated wood waste.

    PubMed

    Janin, Amélie; Riche, Pauline; Blais, Jean-François; Mercier, Guy; Cooper, Paul; Morris, Paul

    2012-09-01

    This study explores the performance of a counter-current leaching process (CCLP) for copper extraction from copper azole treated wood waste for recycling of wood and copper. The leaching process uses three acid leaching steps with 0.1 M H2SO4 at 75degrees C and 15% slurry density followed by three rinses with water. Copper is recovered from the leachate using electrodeposition at 5 amperes (A) for 75 min. Ten counter-current remediation cycles were completed achieving > or = 94% copper extraction from the wood during the 10 cycles; 80-90% of the copper was recovered from the extract solution by electrodeposition. The counter-current leaching process reduced acid consumption by 86% and effluent discharge volume was 12 times lower compared with the same process without use of counter-current leaching. However, the reuse of leachates from one leaching step to another released dissolved organic carbon and caused its build-up in the early cycles.

  14. Extraction of Vanadium from Vanadium Slag Via Non-salt Roasting and Ammonium Oxalate Leaching

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, Meng; Du, Hao; Zheng, Shili; Wang, Shaona; Zhang, Yang; Liu, Biao; Dreisinger, David Bruce; Zhang, Yi

    2017-10-01

    A clean method featuring non-salt roasting followed by (NH4)2C2O4 leaching to recover vanadium from vanadium slag was proposed. The carcinogenic Cr6+ compounds and exhaust gases were avoided, and the water generated from vanadate precipitation may be recycled and reused in this new leaching process. The leaching residues may be easily used by a blast furnace. Moreover, (NH4)2C2O4 solution was used as a leaching medium to avoid expensive and complicated ammonium controlling operations as a result of the stability of (NH4)2C2O4 at a high temperature. The transformation mechanisms of vanadium- and chromium-bearing phases were systematically investigated by x-ray diffraction analysis and scanning electron microscopy with energy-disperse x-ray spectrometry, respectively. In addition, the effects of oxygen concentration, roasting temperature, and holding time on vanadium recovery were investigated. Finally, the effects of leaching variables on the vanadium leaching rate were also examined.

  15. Leachability of Cr(VI) and other metals from asphalt composites with addition of filter dust.

    PubMed

    Vahcic, Mitja; Milacic, Radmila; Mladenovic, Ana; Murko, Simona; Zuliani, Tea; Zupancic, Marija; Scancar, Janez

    2008-12-01

    The potential use of filter dust in asphalt composites for road construction was investigated. Filter dust contains high concentrations of metals, of which Cr(VI) and Pb are leached with water. Compact and ground asphalt composites with addition of 2% of filter dust by mass were studied. In order to evaluate their environmental impact, leachability tests were performed using water and salt water as leaching agents. The concentrations of Cr(VI) and Pb were determined in leachates over a time period of 182 days. The results indicated that Pb was not leached with leaching agents from asphalt composites. Cr(VI) was also not leached with leaching agents from compact asphalt composites. However, in ground asphalt composites, Cr(VI) was leached with water in concentrations up to 220 microg L(-1) and in salt water up to 150 microg L(-1). From the physico-mechanical and environmental aspects, filter dust can be used as a component in asphalt mixtures.

  16. Leaching behavior of total organic carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus from banana peel.

    PubMed

    Jiang, Ruixue; Sun, Shujuan; Xu, Yan; Qiu, Xiudong; Yang, Jili; Li, Xiaochen

    2015-01-01

    The leaching behavior of organic carbon and nutrient compounds from banana peel (BP) was investigated in batch assays with respect to particle size, contact time, pH value, and temperature. The granularity, contact time, pH, and temperature caused no significant effects on the leaching of total phosphorus (TP) from the BP. The maximum leached total nitrogen (TN) content was found at pH 5.0 and 90 minutes, while no significant effects were caused by the granularity and temperature. The maximum leached total organic carbon (TOC) content was found by using a powder of 40 mesh, 150 minutes and at pH 6.0, while the temperature had no effect on the TOC leaching. The proportions of the TN, TP, and TOC contents leached from the dried BP ranged from 33.6% to 40.9%, 60.4% to 72.7%, and 8.2% to 9.9%, respectively, indicating that BP could be a potential pollution source for surface and ground water if discharged as domestic waste or reutilized without pretreatment.

  17. Effect of Mechanical Activation Treatment on the Recovery of Vanadium from Converter Slag

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xiang, Junyi; Huang, Qingyun; Lv, Xuewei; Bai, Chenguang

    2017-10-01

    The high roasting temperature and low leaching efficiency of vanadium from vanadium-bearing converter slag are regarded as the main factors significantly influencing the application of calcification roasting-acid leaching processes in the cleaner production of vanadium. In this study, a mechanical activation treatment was performed to enhance the extraction of vanadium from converter slag. The enhancement effects obtained from mechanical activation were comprehensively evaluated through indices such as the roasting temperature and leaching efficiency. The effects of mechanical activation time, roasting temperature, leaching temperature, solid to liquid ratio, particle size, and acid concentration on the leaching efficiency were investigated. Microstructure morphology and elemental analyses of the raw materials and leaching residue were also investigated using scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The results demonstrated that the mechanical activation significantly decreased the optimum roasting temperature from 1173 K to 1073 K (900 °C to 800 °C) and increased the leaching efficiency from 86.0 to 90.9 pct.

  18. Study on Cr(VI) Leaching from Cement and Cement Composites

    PubMed Central

    Palascakova, Lenka; Kanuchova, Maria

    2018-01-01

    This paper reports an experimental study on hexavalent chromium leaching from cement samples and cement composites containing silica fume and zeolite additions that were subjected to various leaching agents. The water-soluble Cr(VI) concentrations in cements ranged from 0.2 to 3.2 mg/kg and represented only 1.8% of the total chromium content. The presence of chromium compounds with both chromium oxidation states of III and VI was detected in the cement samples by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Leaching tests were performed in a Britton-Robinson buffer to simulate natural conditions and showed increased dissolution of Cr(VI) up to 6 mg/kg. The highest amount of leached hexavalent chromium was detected after leaching in HCl. The findings revealed that the leaching of chromium from cements was higher by 55–80% than that from the cement composites. A minimum concentration was observed for all cement samples when studying the relationship between the soluble Cr(VI) and the cement storage time. PMID:29690550

  19. Study on Cr(VI) Leaching from Cement and Cement Composites.

    PubMed

    Estokova, Adriana; Palascakova, Lenka; Kanuchova, Maria

    2018-04-22

    This paper reports an experimental study on hexavalent chromium leaching from cement samples and cement composites containing silica fume and zeolite additions that were subjected to various leaching agents. The water-soluble Cr(VI) concentrations in cements ranged from 0.2 to 3.2 mg/kg and represented only 1.8% of the total chromium content. The presence of chromium compounds with both chromium oxidation states of III and VI was detected in the cement samples by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Leaching tests were performed in a Britton-Robinson buffer to simulate natural conditions and showed increased dissolution of Cr(VI) up to 6 mg/kg. The highest amount of leached hexavalent chromium was detected after leaching in HCl. The findings revealed that the leaching of chromium from cements was higher by 55⁻80% than that from the cement composites. A minimum concentration was observed for all cement samples when studying the relationship between the soluble Cr(VI) and the cement storage time.

  20. Recovery of valuable metals from waste diamond cutters through ammonia-ammonium sulfate leaching

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xue, Ping; Li, Guang-qiang; Yang, Yong-xiang; Qin, Qin-wei; Wei, Ming-xing

    2017-12-01

    Copper and zinc were recovered from waste diamond cutters through leaching with an ammonia-ammonium sulfate system and air as an oxidant. The effects of experimental parameters on the leaching process were investigated, and the potential-pH ( E-pH) diagrams of Cu-NH3-SO4 2--H2O and Zn-NH3-SO4 2--H2O at 25°C were drawn. Results showed that the optimal parameters for the leaching reaction are as follows: reaction temperature, 45°C; leaching duration, 3 h; liquid-to-solid ratio, 50:1 (mL/g); stirring speed, 200 r/min; ammonia concentration, 4.0 mol/L; ammonium sulfate concentration, 1.0 mol/L; and air flow rate, 0.2 L/min. The results of the kinetics study indicated that the leaching is controlled by the surface chemical reaction at temperatures below 35°C, and the leaching is controlled by diffusion through the product layer at temperatures above 35°C.

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