Comparison of percolation to batch and sequential leaching tests: theory and data
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Updated: Jun 21, 2026

A Protocol for Collecting and Constructing Soil Core Lysimeters
Published on: June 6, 2016
Peter Grathwohl1, Bernd Susset
1University of Tübingen, Center for Applied Geosciences, 72076 Tübingen, Germany. grathwohl@uni-tuebingen.de
Abstract:
Leaching tests are becoming more relevant in assessing solid waste material, particularly with respect to groundwater risks. In the field, water infiltration is the dominant leaching mechanism, which is simulated in the lab with batch and column tests. In this study, we compared percolation, through analytical solutions of the advection-dispersion equation, to laboratory batch and sequential leaching tests. The analytical solutions are supported with comprehensive data from various field and laboratory leaching of different solutes from waste materials and soils collected in long-term joint research projects funded by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research and the Federal Environment Agency. The comparison of theory and data is facilitated if concentrations and cumulative release are plotted versus the liquid-solid ratios (LS). Both theory and data indicate that leaching behaviour is independent of duration and physical dimensions of the leaching tests. This holds even if field lysimeters are compared to laboratory columns of different size, different flow velocities as well as different contact times. In general, laboratory batch tests over predict effluent concentrations (for LS
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