Occurrence and leaching behaviors of heavy-metal elements in

metallurgical slags

Valentina Bermúdez Gómez – 1001013365

The article talks about how to characterize different slags from pyrometallurgical
and hydrometallurgical processes and the possible presence of heavy metals in
them, since they can cause a considerable environmental risk if they are not
neutralized and would not allow the reuse of the slag in the materials of
construction properly. It was written by Chinese researchers in 2022. The article
states that metallurgical slag is an industrial waste produced during the production
of metals or alloys. This slag contains heavy metal elements and has caused
environmental problems in China due to improper disposal. These slags can come
from hydrometallurgical and pyrometallurgical processes, which are
environmentally harmful due to the presence of heavy metals such as Cr, Pb, Zn
and Mn, and do not allow the reuse of slag in the preparation of construction
materials. Because metallurgical slag has the risk of leaching heavy metal
elements.
For the elaboration of the article, 3 metallurgical samples were used that contain
heavy metal elements such as EMR (electrolytic manganese residue), which is a
solid residue resulting from leaching with sulfuric acid, neutralization with ammonia
and purification in the production of metallic manganese by electrolysis, having
high contents of Mn were used. LZS slag (lead-zinc slag) is an industrial residue
from lead-zinc smelting and contains heavy metals such as Cr, Pb and Zn and EFS
slag (ferronickel electric furnace slag) contains considerable amount of Mn and Cr
that are harmful to health. the environment. These slags are used for the
preparation of construction materials, however, there may be risks of leaching in
heavy metallic elements, so the leaching behavior was analyzed to make a safe
use of these slags in construction processes. To this end, the slags were
characterized, the leaching behavior of heavy metallic elements was investigated
by means of a combination of leaching test and thermodynamic simulation, and the
potential risks of leaching were evaluated.
First, it was determined that the main compositions of EMR are SiO2, SO3 and
Al2O3, in LZS Fe2O3 and SiO2, and for EFS MgO, Fe2O3 and SiO2. And it was
determined that there are two main forms of existence of Mn in EMR. In LZS Cr,
Mn and Zn exist in the solid solution with Fe and Pb as a single substance. In the
EFS, Mn and Cr exist mainly in the glassy Si-Al phase and in the Cr-Mn solid
solution. Subsequently, the leaching study was carried out and it was found that
EMR MnSO4 can be massively dissolved in a neutral environment, while
ferromanganese spinel cannot be dissolved until the Ph value decreases to 6.
While heavy metals in LZS and EFS exist mainly in stable forms and start to leach
when the Ph is less than 4. According to the leaching process, it can be concluded
that the heavy metal leaching concentrations of EMR (Mn), LZS (Zn, Mn, Pb and
As) and EFS (Mn and Cr) are relatively high, which is risky for leaching into the
environment. In addition to neutral and alkaline situations, Mn from EMR, Zn and
Pb from LZS, and Mn and Cr from EFS can also leach into solution, indicating the
environmental risks of metallurgical slag even in conditions without acid erosion.