About This Item

Share This Item

The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database

Environmental Geosciences (DEG)

Abstract

Environmental Geosciences, V. 12, No. 4 (December 2005), P. 235-242.

Copyright copy2005. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists/Division of Environmental Geosciences. All rights reserved.

DOI: 10.1306/eg.06210404010

Metal extractability from contaminated SRS sediments: Comparison of column and batch results

J. C. Seaman,1 V. M. Vulava,2 A. G. Sowder,3 B. P. Jackson,4 S. A. Aburime,5 P. M. Bertsch6

1Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, University of Georgia, PO Drawer E, Aiken, South Carolina 29802; [email protected]
2Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, University of Georgia, PO Drawer E, Aiken, South Carolina 29802
3Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, University of Georgia, PO Drawer E, Aiken, South Carolina 29802
4Department of Earth Sciences and Department of Chemistry, HB6105, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755
5Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, University of Georgia, PO Drawer E, Aiken, South Carolina 29802
6Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, University of Georgia, PO Drawer E, Aiken, South Carolina 29802

AUTHORS

John C. Seaman is an associate research professor with the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, located on the Savannah River Site and operated for the Department of Energy by the University of Georgia. Seaman received his B.S. (1987) and M.S. (1990) degrees from Texas AampM University in agronomy and soil science, respectively, and his Ph.D. (1994) in environmental soil science from the University of Georgia.

Vijay M. Vulava is a research associate with the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the University of Tennessee. He has a B. Tech. degree (1992) and an M.S. degree (1994) in civil and environmental engineering from J.N. Technological University, India, and University of Maryland, United States, respectively, and a Ph.D. (1998) in environmental soil chemistry from the Federal Institute of Technology, Switzerland.

Andrew G. Sowder is a physical scientist with the Office of the Senior Coordinator for Nuclear Safety at the U.S. Department of State. Sowder received his B.S. degree (1990) in optics from the University of Rochester and his Ph.D. (1998) in environmental engineering and science from Clemson University.

Brian Jackson is Director of the Trace Element Analysis Laboratory in the Center for Environmental Sciences at Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire. Jackson received his B.S. degree (1989) in chemistry from Oxford University and his Ph.D. (1998) in environmental soil science from the University of Georgia.

Sunnie A. Aburime is an associate professor in the Department of Engineering at Clark Atlanta University, Atlanta, Georgia. Aburime received both his B.S. (1978) and M.S. (1982) degrees in chemistry from Jackson State University and his Ph.D. (1986) in environmental engineering from Cornell University.

Paul M. Bertsch is a professor of environmental soil science and director of Savannah River Ecology Laboratory of the University of Georgia. Bertsch received his B.S. degree in plant and soil science from the University of Connecticut, his M.S. degree in soil chemistry from Virginia Tech, and his Ph.D. (1994) in soil physical chemistry and mineralogy from the University of Kentucky.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors thank Angel Kelsey-Wall, Christina Zabinski, and Jane Logan for their assistance with laboratory analyses, M. Wilson for assisting with the statistics, and C. Strojan for reviewing a draft version of the manuscript. Financial assistance was provided through Financial Assistance Award number DE-FC09-96SR18546 from the U.S. Department of Energy to the University of Georgia Research Foundation.

ABSTRACT

Tims Branch, a stream on the U.S. Department of Energy's Savannah River Site located near Aiken, South Carolina, received significant amounts U and Ni as a result of nuclear materials production and refinement. Batch and column experiments were used to evaluate potential remediation scenarios and the migration hazard of U and Ni from flood-plain sediments collected along Tims Branch. Treatment solutions included a low-ionic-strength groundwater surrogate (artificial groundwater), 1 mM ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), 1 mM CaCl2 (pH 3.0), 1 mM Na-phytate (Na12C6H6O24P6), and 1 mM Ca-phytate (CaC6H16O24P6). The two organic phosphate compounds were included in the study because of their potential to serve as in-situ immobilizing agents through the formation of insoluble precipitates in association with the contaminant metals. Repacked columns were leached with a specific treatment solution for 30 pore volumes (PV) at a constant seepage velocity of 8 m dayminus1 (26 ft dayminus1). After leaching, solid-phase metal redistribution was evaluated using the toxicity characteristic leaching procedure and sequential extraction methods. For comparison, batch extractions were conducted using a solid-to-solution ratio (1:20) that mimicked the total leaching volume. Despite differences in reaction time, batch and column results were generally consistent. The CaCl2 and EDTA column treatments removed substantial Ni from the labile fractions, i.e., water soluble and exchangeable, as indicted by subsequent extractions for the residual sediments. The effectiveness of the treatments in removing U and Ni was not evident from digestion of the residual column sediments. Ca-phytate significantly reduced U mobility in columns, with evidence for solid-phase redistribution to more recalcitrant fractions. Na-phytate extracted the most U in batch and columns despite inducing colloid dispersion that clogged the column and precluded further leaching after 8–10 PV.

Pay-Per-View Purchase Options

The article is available through a document delivery service. Explain these Purchase Options.

Watermarked PDF Document: $14
Open PDF Document: $24