Phytotoxicity and groundwater impacts of leaching from thermal treatment residues in roadways

The use of coal fly ash（CFA）, municipal solid waste incinerator bottom ash（MSWIBA） and flue gas desulfurization residue（FGDR） in road construction has become very common owing to its economical advantages. However, these residues may contain toxic constituents that pose an environmental risk if they leach out and flow through the soil, surface water and groundwater.Therefore, it is necessary to assess the ecotoxicity and groundwater impact of these residues before decisions can be made regarding their utilization for road construction. In this study,the physico-chemical characteristics, leaching and phytotoxicity of these residues were investigated. Specifically, multivariate analyses were used to evaluate the contributions of the leaching constituents of the CFA, MSWIBA and FGDR leachates to the germination index of wheat seeds. B, Ba, Cr, Cu, Fe and Pb were found to be more toxic to the wheat seeds than the other heavy metals. Furthermore, the leached concentrations of the constituents from the CFA, MSWIBA and FGDR were below the regulatory threshold limits of the Chinese identification standard for hazardous wastes. Analyses conducted using a numerical groundwater model（Wisc LEACH） indicated that the predicted field concentrations of metals from the CFA, MSWIBA and FGDR increased with time up to about 30 years at the point of compliance, then decreased with time and distance. Overall, this study demonstrated that the risks resulting from MSWIBA, CFA and FGDR leaching could be assessed before its utilization for road construction, providing crucial information for the adoption of these alternative materials.

Rapid adsorption of toxic Pb(Ⅱ) ions from aqueous solution using multiwall carbon nanotubes synthesized by microwave chemical vapor deposition technique

Multiwall carbon nanotubes（MWCNTs） were synthesized using a tubular microwave chemical vapor deposition technique, using acetylene and hydrogen as the precursor gases and ferrocene as catalyst. The novel MWCNT samples were tested for their performance in terms of Pb（Ⅱ）binding. The synthesized MWCNT samples were characterized using Fourier Transform Infrared（FT-IR）, Brunauer, Emmett and Teller（BET）, Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy（FESEM） analysis, and the adsorption of Pb（Ⅱ） was studied as a function of p H,initial Pb（Ⅱ） concentration, MWCNT dosage, agitation speed, and adsorption time, and process parameters were optimized. The adsorption data followed both Freundlich and Langmuir isotherms. On the basis of the Langmuir model, Qmaxwas calculated to be 104.2 mg/g for the microwave-synthesized MWCNTs. In order to investigate the dynamic behavior of MWCNTs as an adsorbent, the kinetic data were modeled using pseudo first-order and pseudo second-order equations. Different thermodynamic parameters, viz., ΔH0, ΔS0and ΔG0were evaluated and it was found that the adsorption was feasible, spontaneous and endothermic in nature. The statistical analysis revealed that the optimum conditions for the highest removal（99.9%） of Pb（Ⅱ） are at p H 5, MWCNT dosage 0.1 g, agitation speed 160 r/min and time of 22.5 min with the initial concentration of 10 mg/L. Our results proved that microwave-synthesized MWCNTs can be used as an effective Pb（Ⅱ） adsorbent due to their high adsorption capacity as well as the short adsorption time needed to achieve equilibrium.