Leaching of heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from reclaimed asphalt pavement

The work presented herein displays the results of a study addressing environmental concerns related to the possible leaching of pollutants from reclaimed asphalt pavement. Samples from an experimental site were tested in both static batch tests and column leaching tests. Selected heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were analysed in leachates. The results have allowed us to consider the leaching of pollutants to be rather weak for most of the parameters studied. Concentrations in solutions from batch leaching tests were generally below the EC limit values for drinking water. Pollutant concentrations from column experiments were higher in solutions as of the initial leaching stages, but then decreased rapidly and wound up at values below the detection limits. The factors influencing results proved to be the material grain size and the percolation water flow rate. Results from leaching experiments performed on core samples taken on two rebuilt road section pavements, containing 10% and 20% of reclaimed asphalt pavement, respectively, confirmed the results obtained from the batch and column experiments.