RT Journal Article
T1 Environmental management and potential valorization of wastes generated in passive treatments of fertilizer industry effluents
A1 Millán Becerro, Ricardo
A1 Macías Suárez, Francisco
A1 Ruiz Cánovas, Carlos
A1 Pérez López, Rafael
A1 Fuentes López, José María
AB A phosphogypsum stack located in SW Spain releases highly acidic and contaminated leachates to the surrounding estuarine environment. Column experiments, based on a mixture of an alkaline reagent (i.e., MgO or Ca(OH)2) dispersed in an inert matrix (dispersed alkaline substrate (DAS) technology), have shown high effectiveness for the treatment of phosphogypsum leachates. MgO-DAS and Ca(OH)2-DAS treatment systems achieved near total removal of PO4, F, Fe, Zn, Al, Cr, Cd, U, and As, with initial reactive mass:volume of leachate treated ratios of 3.98 g/L and 6.35 g/L, respectively. The precipitation of phosphate (i.e., brushite, cattiite, fluorapatite, struvite and Mn3Zn(PO4)2·2H2O) and sulfate (i.e., despujolsite and gypsum) minerals could control the solubility of contaminants during the treatments. Therefore, the hazardousness of these wastes must be accurately assessed in order to be properly managed, avoiding potential environmental impacts. For this purpose, two standardized leaching tests (EN-12457-2 from the European Union and TCLP from the United States) were performed. According to European Union (EN-12457-2) regulation, some wastes recovered from DAS treatments should be classified as hazardous wastes because of the high concentrations of SO4 or Sb that are leached. However, according to United States (US EPA-TCLP) legislation, all DAS wastes are designated as non-hazardous wastes. Moreover, the solids generated in the DAS systems could constitute a promising secondary source of calcite and/or P. This research could contribute to worldwide suitable waste management for the fertilizer industry.
PB Elsevier
YR 2022
FD 2022-05
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10272/21238
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10272/21238
LA en
NO Millán-Becerro, R., Macías, F., Cánovas, C. R., Pérez-López, R., & Fuentes-López, J. M. (2022). Environmental management and potential valorization of wastes generated in passive treatments of fertilizer industry effluents. Chemosphere, 295, 133876. 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.133876
NO This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy andCompetitiveness, the European Regional Development Fund and theUniversity of Huelva under the research projects CAPOTE (MINECO;CGL 2017-86050-R), VALOREY (MINECO; RTI 2018-101276-J-I00) andEMFHA-SIST (FEDER; UHU-1253533). F. Macías was funded by theR&D FEDER Andalucía 2014–2020 call through the project RENOVAME(FEDER; UHU-1255729).  Funding foropen access charge: Universidad de Huelva/CBUA.
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
RD 31 may 2026