Experiment of Coal Leaching and Study of the Separation of Trace Elements

Leaching is an important way of separation of trace elements from coal. Based on leaching experiments, the content of trace elements separated out from coal is related to their existing state and content in coal, the duration of leaching process, temperature of leaching liquor and its acidity and basicity. The higher the temperature of leaching liquor and the longer the leaching time, the higher the contents of separated trace elements will be. In the course of leaching, the pH values of leaching liquors change and different trace elements are affected differently by the pH values.

Leaching Behavior of Fly Ashes from Power Plants

The Yanzhou mine district, located in southwestern Shandong Province, is about 1300 km2 with more than 8×109tons of proved coal reserves and there are 10 big power plants in this area. A large amount of coal ashes, which are regarded as waste materials, have been stockpiled in the area and have influenced the environment of the mine district. In this paper, analysis of fly ash samples from three power plants is carried out, the enrichment and concentration of trace elements, Pb, Zn, Cu and As, in coal ashes are analyzed, and petrological and mineralogical characteristics and chemical compositions of coal ashes are studied. The aim of this work is to provide basic scientific data for utilization of ashes and reduction of environmental pollutions.

Nitrogen mobility,ammonia volatilization,and estimated leaching loss from long-term manure incorporation in red soil

Nitrogen（N） loss from fertilization in agricultural fields has an unavoidable negative impact on the environment and a better understanding of the major pathways can assist in developing the best management practices. The aim of this study was to evaluate the fate of N fertilizers applied to acidic red soil（Ferralic Cambisol） after 19 years of mineral（synthetic） and manure fertilizer treatments under a cropping system with wheat-maize rotations. Five field treatments were examined： control（CK）, chemical nitrogen and potash fertilizer（NK）, chemical nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer（NP）, chemical nitrogen, phosphorus and potash fertilizer（NPK） and the NPK with manure（NPKM, 70% N from manure）. Based on the soil total N storage change in 0–100 cm depth, ammonia（NH_3） volatilization, nitrous oxide（N_2O） emission, N plant uptake, and the potential N leaching loss were estimated using a mass balance approach. In contrast to the NPKM, all mineral fertilizer treatments（NK, NP and NPK） showed increased nitrate（NO_3~–） concentration with increasing soil depth, indicating higher leaching potential. However, total NH_3 volatilization loss was much higher in the NPKM（19.7%） than other mineral fertilizer treatments（≤4.2%）. The N_2O emissions were generally low（0.2–0.9%, the highest from the NPKM）. Total gaseous loss accounted for 1.7, 3.3, 5.1, and 21.9% for NK, NP, NPK, and NPKM treatments, respectively. Estimated N leaching loss from the NPKM was only about 5% of the losses from mineral fertilizer treatments. All data demonstrated that manure incorporation improved soil productivity, increased yield, and reduced potential leaching, but with significantly higher NH_3 volatilization, which could be reduced by improving the application method. This study confirms that manure incorporationis an essential strategy in N fertilization management in upland red soil cropping system.

Ultra fast microwave-assisted leaching for the recovery of copper and tellurium from copper anode slime

The decomposition of copper anode slime heated by microwave energy in a sulfuric acid medium was investigated. Leaching experiments were carried out in a multi-mode cavity with microwave assistance. The leaching process parameters were optimized using response surface methodology（RSM）. Under the optimized conditions, the leaching efficiencies of copper and tellurium were 99.56% ± 0.16% and 98.68% ± 0.12%, respectively. Meanwhile, a conventional leaching experiment was performed in order to evaluate the influence of microwave radiation. The mechanism of microwave-assisted leaching of copper anode slime was also investigated. In the results, the microwave technology is demonstrated to have a great potential to improve the leaching efficiency and reduce the leaching time. The enhanced recoveries of copper and tellurium are believed to result from the presence of a temperature gradient due to the shallow microwave penetration depth and the superheating at the solid-liquid interface.

Simulation of transport mechanism of radium isotopes in aquifer on the southern coast of Laizhou Bay

Naturally occurring radium(^(223)Ra,^(224)Ra,^(226)Ra,and^(228)Ra)isotopes have been widely applied as geochemical tracers in marine environments,especially when estimating the submarine groundwater discharge(SGD).In this sense,the influencing factors and transport mechanism of radium isotope activity in aquifers can be key information for SGD estimation.This work evaluates the adsorption/desorption behavior of^(224)Ra and^(226)Ra in the solid-liquid phase through a leaching experiment and analysis of field data.The results suggested that radium isotope activity was positively correlated with salinity and grain size,in the case of abundant sediments.Through ion analysis,we found that the ions(Na^(+),Ca^(2+),Mg^(2+),and Ba^(2+))exchanged with radium isotopes in the process of transport.A 1-D reactive transport model was established to simulate the transport process of radium isotope in aquifers.The model successfully simulated the variation of radium isotope desorption activity with salinity and was subsequently verified in the field.This study contributes to the understanding of the geochemical behavior of radium isotopes in aquifers and provides guidance for selecting a suitable groundwater endmember in SGD estimation.

Leaching of rare earth elements from contaminated soils using saponin and rhamnolipid bio-surfactant

The effective leaching of rare earth elements（La, Ce, Y and Eu） from simulated contaminated soil using bio-surfactant was investigated in a lab-scale column leaching experiment, where anionic biosurfactant rhamnolipid and non-ionic biosurfactant saponin were used as washing solutions. Soil properties and the rare earth element fractions were analysed to define the effect of leaching on soil and elemental speciation. Column leaching results showed that saponin solution was more effective than rhamnolipid in the removal of the four rare earth elements tested, with the accumulative removal efficiency of La, Ce, Y and Eu following flushing with 400 mL of 25 g/L saponin, reaching 35.258%, 26.072%, 31.476% and 30.849%, respectively. The change in REE speciation showed that REE removed from soils were mainly derived from the acid-soluble and residual fractions released when rhamnolipid solution was used as a leaching agent. However, for saponin leaching, removed REE amounts were derived from acid-soluble and reducible fractions. Complexation interactions were identified between saponin and REEs, according to infrared spectroscopy and ion exchange data, with saponin complexing with La, Ce, Y, and Eu at a complex ratio of 1：1.