Anomalous transient leaching behavior of metals solidified/stabilized by pozzolanic fly ash

This study presents observations on the transient leaching behavior of chromium, cadmium, and aluminum that were solidified/stabilized by pozzolanic fly ash. These three metals were selected since they were present in a simulated waste stream generated by an evaporator during plutonium purification and also because the minimum solubility of these metals occurs at significantly different pHs. The transient pH behavior of the toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP) leachate showed a monotonic increase for all cases, but the equilibrium value was affected by process conditions. The transient leachate concentration behavior showed curves with one or two local maxima for some cases and curves with a monotonic increase for other cases. Data from the leaching experiments was compared to the solubility curves for the hydroxides of each metal since it was assumed that the highly alkaline conditions inside the fly ash waste would cause the metals to precipitate as hydroxides after initially dissolving in the acidic leaching solution. It was found that of the three metals, only cadmium followed the solubility curve for pure hydroxide solutions or for fly ash systems currently reported in the literature.