A NUMERICAL LEACH MODEL BASED ON EMPIRICAL EQUILIBRIUM RELATIONSHIPS

Park, Joo-Yang

Environmental Engineering Research 2001;6(1): 29-38.

Joo-Yang Park^†

Department of Civil Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul 133-791, Korea

Corresponding Author: Joo-Yang Park ,Tel: +82-2-2290-0411 , Fax: +82-2-2293-9977 , Email: jooypark@email.hanyang.ac.kr

Received: December 6, 2000; Accepted: March 3, 2001.

ABSTRACT

A numerical leach model (EPLEM) was developed by coupling empirical equilibrium relation¬ships with a modified Crank-Nicholson algorithm to determine the long-term leaching behavior of contami¬nants in stabilized/solidified(s/s) wastes. EPLEM was evaluated by simulating a dynamic leaching test of cement-treated combined ash from a municipal solid waste incinerator. Simulations used empirical equilib¬rium relationships obtained from Acid Neutralization Capacity (ANC) test data of the ash. The results show that EPLEM can reasonably predict the dynamic leaching behavior of metals from the cement-treated ash when the ANC of the ash and pH-solubility curves of metals are well described empirically. This indicates EPLEM simulations be able to augment or replace experimental dynamic leaching tests that can consume a substantial period of time (>2 months) and in some cases, provide unreliable results.