Leachability and heavy metal speciation of 17-year old stabilised/solidified contaminated site soils

The long-term leachability, heavy metal speciation transformation and binding mechanisms in a field stabilised/solidified contaminated soil (made ground) from West Drayton site were recently investigated following in situ auger mixing treatment with a number of cement-based binders back in 1996. Two batch leaching tests (TCLP and BS EN 12457) and a modified five step sequential extraction procedure along with X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analyses were employed for the testing of the 17-year-old field soil. The results of batch leaching tests show that the treatment employed remained effective at 17 years of service time, with all BS EN 12457 test samples and most of TCLP test samples satisfied drinking water standards. Sequential extraction results illustrate that the leaching of Cu, Ni, Zn, Pb and Cd in all mixes mainly occurred at the Fe/Mn phase, ranging from 43% to 83%. Amongst the five metals tested, Ni was the most stable with around 40% remained in the residual phase for all the different cement-based binder stabilised/solidified samples. XRD and SEM analyses show that the hydration process has been fully completed and further carbonation took place. In summary, this study confirms that such cement-based stabilisation/solidification (S/S) treatment can achieve satisfactory durability and thus is a reliable technique for long-term remediation of heavy metal contaminated soil.