July 2013 Remediation Trends

Column Study Services for Heavy Metals Remediation

Batch versus Column Testing Treatability studies for stabilization of metals have traditionally focused on batch testing where soil/waste is combined with a leaching solution and allowed to react for a specified period of time. Liquid to solid (L/S) ratios, stirring methods, and reaction times are specified for a given set of tests. This approach is required for hazardous waste characterization (e.g., TCLP) and can provide approximations for the conditions of in situ stabilization remedies with the Synthetic Precipitation Leaching Procedure (SPLP) or comparable groundwater leaching procedures. Batch procedures use relatively small volumes of soil/waste and leaching solutions and can be completed within days.

Column studies can address a number of issues that cannot be addressed with batch tests, or are better controlled within a column, such as:

  • kinetic effects related to contaminant release as a function of particle size,
  • the effect of competing ions present in the porous media, especially in the early stages of the testing,
  • better implementation and maintenance of anaerobic conditions,
  • more realistic estimate of full-scale performance, and
  • validation of batch test results for future remedy evaluations.

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