Improved Interpretation of Mercury Intrusion and Soil Water Retention Percolation Characteristics by Inverse Modelling and Void Cluster Analysis

This work addresses two continuing fallacies in the interpretation of percolation characteristics of porous solids. The first is that the first derivative (slope) of the intrusion characteristic of the non-wetting fluid or drainage characteristic of the wetting fluid corresponds to the void size distribution, and the second is that the sizes of all voids can be measured. The fallacies are illustrated with the aid of the PoreXpert® inversemodelling package.Anewvoid analysis method is then described, which is an add-on to the inverse modelling package and addresses the second fallacy. It is applied to three widely contrasting and challenging porous media. The first comprises two fine-grain graphites for use in the next-generation nuclear reactors. Their larger void sizes were measured by mercury intrusion, and the smallest by using a grand canonical Monte Carlo interpretation of surface area measurement down to nanometre scale. The second application is to the mercury intrusion of a series of mixtures of ground calcium carbonate with powdered microporous calcium carbonate known as functionalised calcium carbonate (FCC). The third is the water retention/drainage characteristic of a soil sample which undergoes naturally occurring hydrophilic/hydrophobic transitions. The first-derivative approximation is shown to be reasonable in the interpretation of the mercury intrusion porosimetry of the two graphites, which differ only at low mercury intrusion pressures, but false for FCC and the transiently hydrophobic soil. The findings are supported by other experimental characterisations, in particular electron and atomic force microscopy

Structure of Fe(III) precipitates generated by the electrolytic dissolution of Fe(0) in the presence of groundwater ions

We apply Fe K-edge extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectroscopy and pair distribution function (PDF) analysis of high-energy X-ray scattering to investigate the effects of bivalent cation-oxyanion pairs on the structure of Fe(III) precipitates formed from the oxidation of Fe(II) generated by the electrolytic dissolution of Fe(0) electrodes. We found that Fe(II) oxidation in the presence of weakly adsorbing electrolytes (NaCl, CaCl2, MgCl2) leads to pseudo-lepidocrocite (Lp; γ-FeOOH), a poorly crystalline version of Lp with low sheet-stacking coherence. In the absence of bivalent cations, P and As(V) have similar uptake behavior, but different effects on the average Fe(III) precipitate structure: pseudo-Lp dominates in the presence of P, whereas a disordered ferrihydrite-like precipitate akin to hydrous ferric oxide (HFO) is the dominant phase that forms in the presence of As(V). Despite its lower affinity for Fe(III) precipitates, Si leads to Si-HFO in all conditions tested. The presence of 1mM Ca2+ or Mg2+ enhances oxyanion uptake, destabilizes the colloidally stable oxyanion-bearing particle suspensions and, in some P and As(V) electrolytes, results in more crystalline precipitates. The trends in oxyanion uptake and Fe(III) precipitate structure in the presence of Ca2+/Mg2+ suggest a systematic decrease in the strength of bivalent cation:oxyanion interaction in the order of Ca2+>Mg2+ and P>As(V)≫Si. Using the PDF technique, we identify the polyhedral linkages that contribute to the intermediate structures (>6Å) of disordered, nanoscale oxyanion-bearing Fe(III) precipitate samples. Our results suggest that oxyanions present during Fe(III) polymerization bind to corner-sharing Fe surface sites leading to a precipitate surface deficient in corner-sharing Fe, whereas the edge- and corner-sharing Fe sites in the precipitate core likely remain intact. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd

LCA of Disposal Practices for Arsenic-Bearing Iron Oxides Reveals the Need for Advanced Arsenic Recovery

Iron (Fe)-based groundwater treatment removes carcinogenic arsenic (As) effectively but generates toxic As-rich Fe oxide water treatment residuals (As WTRs) that must be managed appropriately to prevent environmental contamination. In this study, we apply life cycle assessment (LCA) to compare the toxicity impacts of four common As WTR disposal strategies that have different infrastructure requirements and waste control: (i) landfilling, (ii) brick stabilization, (iii) mixture with organic waste, and (iv) open disposal. The As disposal toxicity impacts (functional unit = 1.0 kg As) are compared and benchmarked against impacts of current methods to produce marketable As compounds via As mining and concentrate processing. Landfilling had the lowest non-carcinogen toxicity (2.0 × 10-3 CTUh), carcinogen toxicity (3.8 × 10-5 CTUh), and ecotoxicity (4.6 × 103 CTUe) impacts of the four disposal strategies, with the largest toxicity source being As emission via sewer discharge of treated landfill leachate. Although landfilling had the lowest toxicity impacts, the stored toxicity of this strategy was substantial (ratio of stored toxicity/emitted As = 13), suggesting that landfill disposal simply converts direct As emissions to an impending As toxicity problem for future generations. The remaining disposal strategies, which are frequently practiced in low-income rural As-affected areas, performed poorly. These strategies yielded ∼3-10 times greater human toxicity and ecotoxicity impacts than landfilling. The significant drawbacks of each disposal strategy indicated by the LCA highlight the urgent need for new methods to recover As from WTRs and convert it into valuable As compounds. Such advanced As recovery technologies, which have not been documented previously, would decrease the stored As toxicity and As emissions from both WTR disposal and from mining As ore

Arsenic species delay structural ordering during green rust sulfate crystallization from ferrihydrite

Green rust (GR) is an Fe(II)–Fe(III)-bearing phase that forms in oxygen-poor and Fe2+-rich subsurface environments where it influences trace element cycling and contaminant dynamics. GR phases have been shown to have high arsenic (As) uptake under anoxic and circum-neutral pH conditions. While geochemical controls on As uptake by GR have been identified, we still lack a fundamental understanding about GR formation in As-contaminated soils and groundwater, as well as the stability of As-bearing GR solids. In this study, we quantified the influence of As(III) and As(V) ([As]initial = 100 μM) on GR sulfate (GRSO4) crystallization during the Fe2+-induced transformation of ferrihydrite (FHY) at pH 8 (As/Fesolid = 0.008, Fe2+(aq)/Fe(III)FHY = 3). We also documented the behavior of mineral-bound As during GRSO4 crystallization and its transformation to magnetite. Our results showed that, compared to the As-free system, adsorbed As species delayed FHY transformation to GRSO4. Moreover, As(III) had a stronger inhibitory effect (at least eight-fold) than As(V) on GRSO4 crystallization, and reduced structural coherence and ordering in As(III)-bearing GRSO4 crystals. During FHY dissolution, we observed an initial release of ∼14 μM As(III) into the aqueous phase, but this was quickly adsorbed by newly-formed GRSO4 crystals. Mineral-bound As(III) resulted in at least four-fold increase in GRSO4 phase stability compared to As(V), and fully prevented its transformation to magnetite even after 720 h. Our results provide new information on the pathways of interaction of common Fe phases exposed to reducing, Fe2+-bearing and As-contaminated fluids and how these affect the structure, morphology and stability of As-bearing GR phases