• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.31-41
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• 2011

The objectives of this study were to investigate the efficiencies of the stabilizers such as mono-potassium phosphate (MKP), phosphate fertilizer and red mud in treating the mine tailings contaminated with heavy metals and to characterize the changes in fractionations of the heavy metals during the stabilization. The TCLP results showed that the stabilization efficiencies of Cd, Pb and Zn increased with the increase in the stabilizer dosage and the reaction times. MKP showed the highest efficiencies for the heavy metals stabilization among the stabilizers tested. When the mine tailings were amended with MKP, the TCLP concentrations of Cd, Pb and Zn were reduced by 79~97%, 61~84%, and 89~99%, respectively. When the composite stabilizers, MKP/phosphate fertilizer or MKP/red mud, were used, the stabilization efficiencies were lower than when MKP was used as a single stabilizer. The sequential extraction results showed that carbonates fraction of Cd and Zn increased generally. Especially, when red mud was used, carbonates fraction of Cd and Zn increased 5 and 18 times, respectively. In the case of Pb, the treatment with MKP increased residual fraction by 10 times. The results showed that MKP was the most effective in stabilizing the heavy metals (Cd, Pb and Zn) to improve the efficacy of the composite binders.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.619-629
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• 2024

To improve the utilization rate of phosphate tailings (PTs) and widen the sources of subgrade filler, the PTs is employed to modify clay, forming a PTs modified clay, applied in the subgrade. Accordingly, the environmental friendliness of PTs was investigated. Subsequently, an optimal proportion was determined through compaction and California Bearing Ratio (CBR) experiments. Afterward, the stability of mixture with the optimal proportion was further evaluated through the water stability and dry-wet stability experiments. Finally, via the gradation and microstructure experiments, the strength mechanism of PTs modified clay was analyzed. The results show that the PTs were classified in the non-hazardous solid wastes, belonging to Class A building materials. With the increase of PTs content and the decrease of clay content, the optimum water content and the swelling degree gradually decrease, while the maximum dry density and CBR first increase and then decrease, reaching their peak value at 50% PTs content, which is the optimal proportion. The resilient modulus of PTs modified clay at the optimal proportion reaches 110.2 MPa. The water stability coefficient becomes stable after soaking for 4 days, while the dry-wet stability coefficient decreases with the increase of cycles and tends to be stable after 8 cycles. Under the long-term action, the dry-wet change has a greater adverse impact than continuous soaking. The analysis demonstrates that the better strength mainly comes from the skeleton role of PTs and the cementation of clay. The systematic laboratory test results and economic analysis collectively provide data evidence for the advantages of PTs modified clay as a subgrade filler.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.67-73
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• 2014

In this study, the residual heavy metals in the mine tailings, primarily treated by soil washing, were stabilized using phosphate salts. The concentrations of residual contaminants in the washed mine tailings were As (1,861 mg/kg), Cd (20 mg/kg), Cu (56 mg/kg), Pb (2,149 mg/kg), and Zn (633 mg/kg). They were stabilized with $CaHPO_4$, $Ca(H_2PO_4)_2{\cdot}H_2O$, and hydroxyapatite at 0.1 wt%, 1 wt%, and 10 wt% for 1, 3, 5, 7, and 14 days. It was found that 1 wt% $Ca(H_2PO_4)_2{\cdot}H_2O$ was optimum in our experiments, but the stabilization duration did not affect the efficiency. After stabilization with 1 wt% $Ca(H_2PO_4)_2{\cdot}H_2O$ for 1 day, the concentrations of arsenic and heavy metals, As (0.328 mg/L), Cd (0.250 mg/L), Cu (0.143 mg/L), Pb (0.359 mg/L), and Zn (2.622 mg/L), in TCLP leachate were below the RCRA-TCLP limits, which meant the contaminants in the treated mine tailings were stably immobilized.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.55-61
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• 2014

Froth flotation was performed to study the effect of phosphate addition in the experiment to remove As from tailing of Sang-dong Mine. The experiment without Trisodium phosphate (T.S.P) showed that the removal rate of As was 88.7% and weight-ratio of floating material was 2.52%. By contrast, the experiment with T.S.P showed that the removal rate of As was 92.74% and weight-ratio of floating material was 2.26%. In flotation without T.S.P, the average particle size of float material was 19.34 um and the amount less than 10um was 40.2%. On the other hand, in flotation with T.S.P the average particle size of float material was 176.8 um and the amount less than 10um was 6.5%. The result of X.R.F analysis presented that contents of $SiO_2$ was 42.74% in float material of the experiment without T.S.P. In contrast, contents of $SiO_2$ was 29.56% in float material of the experiment with T.S.P.