Mineralogy and metals speciation in Mo rich mineral sludges generated at a metal recycling plant

• Mineral sludges from metal recycling plants contain Mo, Ni, Co, Cr, Zn and W.
• Speciation and mineralogical results reveal mineral sludges heterogeneity.
• Most of the metals are extracted from the oxidizable and residual fractions.
• Mineral sludges potentially hazardous to the environment in case of Mo and Ni.

In France, more than 250 million metric tons of sludges need to be treated each year. These sludges are either dumped on the landfills or reused as secondary resources in order to preserve natural resources. A large portions of these sludges are mineral sludges, originating from metal recycling plants. In order to estimate their metal recovery potential, these mineral sludges were characterized. Four types of mineral sludge samples were collected from a metal recycling plant (3 from the recycling plant storage areas (bulk storage, barrel storage and storage shed) and 1 from the collection basin). The sludges were characterized, wherein the Mo, Ni, Cr, Co, Zn and W content and speciation were quantified. The samples had pH values between 5.9 and 10.3 with organic matter contents varying between 6.3% (storage shed) and 29.5% (bulk storage) (loss on ignition at 500 °C). Based on their leaching properties, the four mineral sludge samples (in the case of Mo) and the bulk storage sludge (in the case of Ni and Zn) were classified as potentially hazardous regarding the EN 12457-1 and EN 12457-2 method. Mineralogical results reveal that both bulk storage and the storage shed give the highest contributions to the metal content of the collection basin sample. Sequential extraction of the collection basin samples indicated that Mo is bound to the oxidizable and residual fraction, while Ni, Cr and Co were bound to the residual fraction, and Zn to the soluble acid fraction, respectively. W tends to be equally distributed among all extracted fractions. A strong correlation existed between Mo and Co, as well as between Ni, Zn and Cr, respectively.