Abstract
Historical slags from the past Fe and Cu-Co production were investigated in order to evaluate either their potential for utilization or their long-term environmental risk for unsupervised old smelting areas. Here, we studied ferrous slags produced during the recovery of Fe from siderite-Cu ores in Slovakia and two different types of non-ferrous slags produced during the recovery of Cu and Co from Kupferschiefer ores in Germany. The glassy character, rare occurrence of primary silicate phases, and the lack of secondary phases in Cu slags indicate their stability for a prolonged period of time. Electron microprobe analytical work showed that the metals and metalloids (Cu, Co, Fe, Zn, Pb, As) are largely encased in droplets of matte and metal alloys and remain protected by the glassy matrix with its low weathering rate. Fe and Co slags are composed of high-temperature silicates such as wollastonite, cristobalite, as well as olivine, feldspar, quartz, leucite, pyroxene, and pyroxenoids. The presence of secondary phases attests to a certain degree metal release owing to weathering. Assuming minimal contents of metals in slags after a treatment with dilute H2SO4, slags could be used as pozzolanas for addition to cement.
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Acknowledgments
We are grateful to S. Kiefer and M. Abratis who helped with the electron microprobe analyses, M. Ude for the XRF analyses, D. Merten for the total decomposition and ICP-MS measurements, and M. Wierbicka-Wieczorek and R. Bolanz for the powder XRD analyses. B. Kreher-Hartmann and R. Geyer provided help to localize and acquire samples of slags from the state of Thuringia. V.V. is thankful to KAAD for the financial support of her study and stay at the University Jena. The contribution of J.M. was funded by DFG Research Training Group GRK 1257/1 within the Jena School of Microbial Communications (JSMC). This research was partially funded by the Czech Science Foundation Agency, Grant No. GAČR P210/15-17224Y. The thorough review of an anonymous reviewer helped to improve the original version of the manuscript.
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Highlights
• In the slags, most metals, with the exception of Pb, strongly fractionate into sulfide-metal droplets and are depleted in the silicates.
• Sulfide-metal droplets with the elements of environmental concern in the slags are encased in glass and protected from weathering.
• Slags could be, after a leaching with dilute H2SO4, potentially reused as pozzolanas.
Electronic supplementary material
The detection limits and calibration conditions for EMPA, the results for the bulk chemical composition of the studied slags, electron microprobe analyses of glasses, and water and sulfuric acid leaching are available in the electronic supplementary information.
Appendix A. Supplementary data 1
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Veselská, V., Majzlan, J. Environmental impact and potential utilization of historical Cu-Fe-Co slags. Environ Sci Pollut Res 23, 7308–7323 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-5861-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-5861-0