Quantification of uncertainty of experimental measurement in leaching test on cement-based materials.

When mineral wastes are reused in construction materials, a current practice is to evaluate their environmental impact using standard leaching test. However, due to the uncertainty of the measurement, it is usually quite difficult to estimate the pollutant potential compared to other materials or threshold limits. The aim of this paper is to give a quantitative evaluation of the uncertainty of leachate concentrations of cement-based materials, as a function of the number of test performed. The relative standard deviations and relative confidence intervals are determined using experimental data in order to give a global evaluation of the uncertainty of leachate concentrations (determination of total relative standard deviation). Various combinations were realized in order to point out the origin of large dispersion of the results (determination of relative standard deviation linked to analytical measured and to leaching procedure), generalisation was suggested and the results were compared to literature. An actual example was given about the introduction of residue (meat and bone meal bottom ash--MBM-BA) in mortar, leaching tests were carried out on various samples with and without residue MBM-BA. In conclusion large dispersion were observed and mainly due to heterogeneity of materials. So heightened attention needed to analyse leaching result on cement-based materials and further more other tests (e.g. ecotoxicology) should be performed to evaluate the environmental effect of these materials.

Quantitative mineralogical composition of complex mineral wastes--contribution of the Rietveld method.

The objective of the work presented in this paper is the quantitative determination of the mineral composition of two complex mineral wastes: a sewage sludge ash (SSA) and a municipal solid waste incineration fly ash (MSWIFA). The mineral compositions were determined by two different methods: the first based on calculation using the qualitative mineralogical composition of the waste combined with physicochemical analyses; the second the Rietveld method, which uses only X-ray diffraction patterns. The results obtained are coherent, showing that it is possible to quantify the mineral compositions of complex mineral waste with such methods. The apparent simplicity of the Rietveld method (due principally to the availability of software packages implementing the method) facilitates its use. However, care should be taken since the crystal structure analysis based on powder diffraction data needs experience and a thorough understanding of crystallography. So the use of another, complementary, method such as the first one used in this study, may sometimes be needed to confirm the results.

Evaluation of laboratory and industrial meat and bone meal combustion residue as cadmium immobilizing material for remediation of polluted aqueous solutions: "chemical and ecotoxicological studies".

Meat and Bone Meals (MBM) combustion residues (ashes) are calcium and phosphate-rich materials. The aim of this work is to evaluate ashes efficiency for remediation of cadmium-contaminated aqueous solutions, and to assess the bioavailability of cadmium on Xenopus laevis larvae. In this study both industrial (MBM-BA) and laboratory (MBM-LA) ashes are compared regarding their efficiency. Kinetic investigations reveal that cadmium ions are quickly immobilized, with a maximum cadmium uptake at 57 mg Cd(2+)/g of ashes for MBM-LA, two times higher than metal uptake quantity of MBM-BA, in our experimental conditions. Chemical and X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) reveal that Cd(2+) is mainly immobilized as Ca(10-x)Cd(x)(PO(4))(6)(OH)(2) by both ashes, whereas otavite, Cd(CO(3)), is also involved for MBM-LA in cadmium uptake. Otavite formation could be explained by the presence of carbonates in MBM-LA, as observed by IR. Genotoxicity of cadmium solution on Xenopus larvae is observed at 0.02, 0.2 and 2mg Cd(2+)/L. However addition of only 0.1g/L MBM-LA inhibits these effects for the above concentration values whereas Cd(2+) bioaccumulation in larvae's liver is similar for both experiments, with and without ashes.