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Title: LEACHING STUDIES WITH COLUMNS OF BLENDED SOIL AND FOUNDRY SAND

Author
item Owens, Lloyd
item Bonta, James - Jim
item Shipitalo, Martin

Submitted to: ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual Meeting Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/28/2004
Publication Date: 10/31/2004
Citation: Owens, L.B., Bonta, J.V., Shipitalo, M.J. 2004. Leaching studies with columns of blended soil and foundry sand [abstract]. ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual Meeting Abstracts. 2004 CDROM. Paper no. 4013.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Millions of tons of foundry sand are generated annually. Although much of this sand is placed in landfills, some is used in blended soil mixes. With soil blends used for landscaping, establishment of turf, and agricultural uses, there is potential for constituents (e.g. heavy metals) to leach. The objective was to evaluate the potential for heavy metals to leach from a soil blend that contains spent foundry sand and to compare this potential with each of the blend components. Columns (1 m x 20 cm D) were prepared in triplicate with the soil blend, spent foundry sand, silty clay loam, compost, and virgin sand. Thirty mm of water was applied one day per week for 10 weeks. This application rate caused more leaching than would be expected in a natural system. The columns received an equivalent of 30% of annual rainfall and produced 65% of annual leachate, based on data from large monolith lysimeters near Coshocton, OH. The leachate from these columns was analyzed for heavy metals. Ohio has Drinking Water Standards (DWS) and Nontoxic Criteria (30x Standards) for As, Ba, Cd, Cr, Pb, Hg, and Se. All leachate samples (n=163) were below the Nontoxic Criteria; over 90% of the samples were below the DWS. Nine of the 33 blend leachate samples were above the As DWS. These results indicate that, with care, spent foundry sand can have beneficial uses in soil blends.