Heavy metals immobilization of ternary geopolymer based on nickel slag, lithium slag and metakaolin

Jinyuan Fan; Jiahao Yan; Mengya Zhou; Yuan Xu; Yuwei Lu; Ping Duan; Yingcan Zhu; Zuhua Zhang; Wengui Li; Aiguo Wang; Daosheng Sun

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.131380

Heavy metals immobilization of ternary geopolymer based on nickel slag, lithium slag and metakaolin

J Hazard Mater. 2023 Jul 5:453:131380. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.131380. Epub 2023 Apr 5.

Authors

Jinyuan Fan¹, Jiahao Yan¹, Mengya Zhou¹, Yuan Xu¹, Yuwei Lu¹, Ping Duan², Yingcan Zhu³, Zuhua Zhang⁴, Wengui Li⁵, Aiguo Wang⁶, Daosheng Sun⁶

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Materials Science and Chemistry, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China.
² Faculty of Materials Science and Chemistry, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China; Key Laboratory of Advanced Building Materials of Anhui Province, Anhui Jianzhu University, Hefei 230022, China; Guangxi Key Laboratory of New Energy and Building Energy Saving, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin 541004, China. Electronic address: dp19851128@sina.com.
³ Shanghai Geopoly New Materials Co., Ltd, Wisdom square, Jingan district, Shanghai 200042, China. Electronic address: zhuyc@geopoly.com.cn.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Advanced Civil Engineering Materials of Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 201804, China.
⁵ School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia.
⁶ Key Laboratory of Advanced Building Materials of Anhui Province, Anhui Jianzhu University, Hefei 230022, China.

PMID: 37043859
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.131380

Abstract

To solve heavy metals leaching problem in the utilization of various industrial solid wastes, this work investigated the heavy metals immobilization of ternary geopolymer prepared by nickel slag (NS), lithium slag (LS), and metakaolin (MK). Compressive strength was measured to determine the optimum and appropriate mix proportions. The leaching characteristics of typical heavy metals (Cu (Ⅱ), Pb (Ⅱ), and Cr (Ⅲ)) in acid, alkali, and salt environments were revealed by Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP). The heavy metals immobilization mechanism was explored by Mercury Intrusion Porosimetry (MIP), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) tests. The experimental results show that the group with a mass ratio of NS, LS and MK of 1:1:8 exhibits the highest compressive strength, which reaches 69.1 MPa at 28 d. The ternary geopolymer possesses a desirable capacity for immobilizing inherent heavy metals, where the immobilization rates of Cu and Pb reach 96.69 %, and that of Cr reaches 99.97 %. The leaching concentrations of Cr and Pb increase when the samples are exposed to acidic and alkaline environments. Cu and Pb are mainly physically encapsulated in geopolymer. Additionally, immobilization of Cr mainly involves physical encapsulation and chemical bonding.

Keywords: Compressive strength; Heavy metals immobilization; Lithium slag; Nickel slag; Ternary geopolymer.