Leaching Behavior of Lead, Chromium (III), and Zinc in Cement/Metal Oxides Systems

This paper reports the study of the leaching behavior of cement/metal oxides mixtures containing lead, chromium (III) and zinc oxides. A fractional factorial design of experiments (24–1) was carried out considering four factors, the concentration of ZnO, Cr2O3, PbO, and Fe2O3 in the formulations. Iron oxide was also included in the experimental design as it is usually the main constituent of industrial wastes from thermal processes, where lead, chromium and zinc oxides are also found. After 56 days of curing, samples were subjected to the Acid Neutralization Capacity Test and the concentrations of Cr, Zn, and Pb were determined in the leachate at different pH after filtering. The output variables for the analysis of the experimental data were the concentration of metals at initial pH (in water), at pH 9, 7, and 4, and the acid neutralization capacity of the samples at pH 9. The analysis of the results indicates that the immobilization of Zn and Pb in Portland cement is poor; these metals behave as their amphoteric hydroxides. However, the leaching of Cr (III) is in the range found in the control sample, indicating that the stabilization of Cr (III) is successful.