Study of the leaching behaviour of paving concretes: quantification of heavy metal content in leachates issued from tank test using demineralized water

A second finding of these experiments is that the risk of contamination due to release of heavy metals from concrete on-site appears small. The total heavy metal content of concrete is of the same order of magnitude as (or even smaller than) that of a soil considered as being unpolluted in Belgium. Moreover, the fraction of heavy metals released by the concrete as a proportion of this total heavy metal content is nonsignificant.