ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Assessment of Leaching of Heavy Metals
from Landfilled Foundry Waste During
Exploitation of the Heaps
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Department of Environmental Engineering, Opole University of Technology, Opole, Poland
Submission date: 2018-04-08
Final revision date: 2018-10-16
Acceptance date: 2018-10-27
Online publication date: 2019-07-23
Publication date: 2019-09-17
Corresponding author
Marta Bożym
Politechnika Opolska, ul. Prószkowska 76, Opole, 45-758 Opole, Poland
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2019;28(6):4117-4126
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ABSTRACT
This article presents the results of heavy metals leaching from foundry waste deposited on two heaps
from a Polish foundry. The foundry waste was stored there until the end of the 20th century. The main
components of the heaps included stored waste from molding and core sands, dust and sludge from
dust collectors, refractory materials, parts from furnace linings, scrap, parts of graphite electrodes and
other items. For several years, a portion of the stored waste was recovered and used for the production
of road aggregate. Due to the fact that the exploitation of waste heaps and the disturbance of their
structure could have a negative impact on the environment, research on the leachability of pollutants
from stored waste was undertaken. In 2012-2017 waste samples from both heaps were regularly collected
in order to assess the degree of leaching of heavy metals from wastes deposited at various periods. From
the samples, the total content of heavy metals and their leachability were determined in accordance with
the Polish standard. The research results showed that foundry waste does not have a negative impact on
the environment, as the degree of metal leaching was low, and in most cases the permissible standards
have not been exceeded.