Assessment of the potential mobility of copper in contaminated soil samples by column leaching test

Abstract

Column leaching tests become methodology important for assessing the risk of release of pollutants from soil into groundwater. In this present study column leaching test were applied on soil samples taken directly in the vicinity of Kenadsa coking plant (Algeria) in order to evaluate the mobility of copper and their potential environmental risks. These samples have been lixiviated in laboratory column in water-saturated condition at room temperature. All leachates have been collected by fraction and analyzed from copper and dissolved organic carbon. The percentages leached in column with water are very low (< 1%). The concentrations of copper in the resulting leachates do not present a toxicological hazard. The effect of dissolved organic carbon on copper leaching was also investigated in this study; the results of column leaching showed that the mobility of copper in these contaminated soil samples is associated with the mobility of dissolved organic carbon.

Keywords

• Contaminated soil
• copper
• column experiment
• dissolved organic carbon