Utilization of Extraction Procedures for Evaluating Environmental Risk from Waste Materials

Several procedures for extracting content from different waste materials types were investigated, with the aim of evaluating their environmental impact. The waste materials consisted of wastes from bauxite ore processing by means of the Bayer process (red mud, Ajka, Hungary), bauxite ore using the sintering process followed by the Bayer process (brown-red mud, Žiar nad Hronom, Banská Bystrica region, Slovakia) and sulphide ores (metal-rich post-flotation tailing, Lintich, Slovakia). The extraction procedures were carried out with the aim of isolating “mobilizable” fractions using 0.05 M ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) and 0.43 M acetic acid (AA) (representing environmental risk during changes in normal environmental conditions) and “maximum potentially mobilizable” fractions using 2 M HNO3 (representing the total environmental risk). The content of chosen toxic heavy metals (THMs) (Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb, Ni, Zn) and Fe, Mn as metals creating Fe/Mn oxides in the extracts and solutions after microwave digestion was determined using high-resolution continuum source flame atomic absorption spectrometry (HR CS FAAS). On the basis of the results obtained in this study, it is possible to state that different origin of waste materials is reflected in different mobility of toxic heavy metals into the surrounding environment. From the point of view of toxic heavy metals mobility, disposal site of wastes after bauxite processing are much less of a threat to the environment than disposal site of flotation sludge after processing sulphide ores. The single extraction of 0.43 M AA is more effective than the extraction of 0.05 M EDTA for the purposes of determining the content of metals in the mobilizable fraction of tailing waste materials. The mobility of the studied toxic heavy metals in the Lintich tailing decreases in the direction from the lagoon to the dam, which may indicate the fact that the dam serves to a certain extent to inhibit the mobility of metals into the surrounding ecosystem.