Stabilization/solidification of selenium-impacted soils using Portland cement and cement kiln dust

Stabilization/solidification (S/S) processes were utilized to immobilize selenium (Se) as selenite (SeO32−) and selenate (SeO42−). Artificially contaminated soils were prepared by individually spiking kaolinite, montmorillonite and dredged material (DM; an organic silt) with 1000 mg/kg of each selenium compound. After mellowing for 7 days, the Se-impacted soils were each stabilized with 5, 10 and 15% Type I/II Portland cement (P) and cement kiln dust (C) and then were cured for 7 and 28 days. The toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP) was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the S/S treatments. At 28 days curing, P doses of 10 and 15% produced five out of six TCLP-Se(IV) concentrations below 10 mg/L, whereas only the 15% C in DM had a TCLP-Se(IV) concentration <10 mg/L. Several treatments satisfied the USEPA TCLP best demonstrated available technology (BDAT) limits (5.7 mg/L) for selenium at pozzolan doses up to 10 times less than the treatments that established the BDAT. Neither pozzolan was capable of reducing the TCLP-Se(VI) concentrations below 25 mg/L. Se-soil-cement slurries aged for 30 days enabled the identification of Se precipitates by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM)-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). XRD and SEM-EDX analyses of the Se(IV)- and Se(VI)-soil-cement slurries revealed that the key selenium bearing phases for all three soil-cement slurries were calcium selenite hydrate (CaSeO3·H2O) and selenate substituted ettringite (Ca6Al2(SeO4)3(OH)12·26H2O), respectively.