Stability of solid-phase selenium species in fly ash after prolonged submersion in a natural river system

Impact of oxidation and carbonation on the release rates of iodine, selenium, technetium, and nitrogen from a cementitious waste form

Evaluation of the long-term retention mechanisms and potential release rates for the primary constituents of potential concern (COPCs) (i.e., Tc, I, Se, and nitrate) is necessary to determine if Cast Stone, a radioactive waste form, can meet performance objectives under near-surface disposal scenarios. Herein, a mineral and parameter set accounting for the solubility of I and Se in Cast Stone was developed based on pH-dependent and monolithic diffusion leaching test results, to extend a geochemical speciation model previously developed. The impact of oxidation and carbonation as environmental aging processes on the retention properties of Cast Stone for primary COPCs was systematically estimated. Physically, the effective diffusion coefficients of 4 COPCs in Cast Stone were increased after carbonation and/or oxidation, reflecting an increase in permeability to diffusion. Chemically, i) pH & pe conditions in the original Cast Stone were favorable for the stabilization of Tc, but not for I, Se, and N; ii) oxidation (with/without carbonation) of Cast Stone changed the pe & pH conditions to be detrimental for Tc stabilization; and iii) carbonation (with/without oxidation) of Cast Stone modified the pH & pe conditions to be beneficial for the stabilization of I (in system with Ag added) and Se.

The influence of redox conditions on aqueous-solid partitioning of arsenic and selenium in a closed coal ash impoundment

A closed coal ash impoundment case study characterized the effects of field redox conditions on arsenic and selenium partitioning through monitoring of porewater and subsurface gas in conjunction with geochemical speciation modeling. When disposed coal ash materials and porewater were recovered for testing, oxidation led to lower arsenic and higher selenium concentrations in leaching test extracts compared to porewater measurements. Multiple lines of evidence suggest multiple mechanisms of arsenic retention are plausible and the concurrent presence of several redox processes and conditions (e.g., methanogenesis, sulfate reduction, and Fe(III)-reduction) controlled by spatial gradients and dis-equilibrium. Geochemical speciation modeling indicated that, under reducing field conditions, selenium was immobilized through the formation of insoluble precipitates Se(0) or FeSe while arsenic partitioning was affected by a progression of reactions including changes in arsenic speciation, reduction in adsorption due to dissolution and recrystallization of hydrous ferric oxides, and precipitation of arsenic sulfide minerals.

Systematic study on the reduction efficiency of ascorbic acid and thiourea on selenate and selenite at high and trace concentrations

Selenate (Se(VI)) and selenite (Se(IV)) are common soluble wastewater pollutants in natural and anthropogenic systems. We evaluated the reduction efficiency and removal of low (0.02 and 2 mg/L) and high (20 and 200 mg/L) Se(IV)_(aq) and Se(VI)_(aq) concentrations to elemental (Se⁰) via the use of ascorbic acid (AA), thiourea (TH), and a 50-50% mixture. The reduction efficiency of AA with Se(IV)_(aq) to nano- and micro-crystalline Se⁰ was ≥ 95%, but ≤ 5% of Se(VI)_(aq) was reduced to Se(IV)_(aq) with no Se⁰. Thiourea was able to reduce ≤ 75% of Se(IV)_(aq) to bulk Se⁰ at lower concentrations but was more effective (≥ 90%) at higher concentrations. Reduction of Se(VI)_(aq)→Se (IV)_(aq) with TH was ≤ 75% at trace concentrations which steadily declined as the concentrations increased, and the products formed were elemental sulfur (S⁰) and S_nSe_8-n phases. The reduction efficiency of Se(IV)_(aq) to bulk Se⁰ upon the addition of AA+TH was ≤ 81% at low concentrations and ≥ 90% at higher concentrations. An inverse relation to what was observed with Se(IV)_(aq) was found upon the addition of AA+TH with Se(VI)_(aq). At low Se(VI)_(aq) concentrations, AA+TH was able to reduce more effectively (≤ 61%) Se(VI)_(aq)→Se(IV)_(aq)→Se⁰, while at higher concentrations, it was ineffective (≤ 11%) and Se⁰, S⁰, and S_nSe_8-n formed. This work helps to guide the removal, reduction effectiveness, and products formed from AA, TH, and a 50-50% mixture on Se(IV)_(aq) and Se(VI)_(aq) to Se⁰ under acidic conditions and environmentally relevant concentrations possibly found in acidic natural waters, hydrometallurgical chloride processing operations, and acid mine drainage/acid rock drainage tailings. Graphical Abstract ᅟ.

Building geochemically based quantitative analogies from soil classification systems using different compositional datasets

Soil heterogeneity is a major contributor to the uncertainty in near-surface biogeochemical modeling. We sought to overcome this limitation by exploring the development of a new classification analogy concept for transcribing the largely qualitative criteria in the pedomorphologically based, soil taxonomic classification systems to quantitative physicochemical descriptions. We collected soil horizons classified under the Alfisols taxonomic Order in the U.S. National Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) soil classification system and quantified their properties via physical and chemical characterizations. Using multivariate statistical modeling modified for compositional data analysis (CoDA), we developed quantitative analogies by partitioning the characterization data up into three different compositions: Water-extracted (WE), Mehlich-III extracted (ME), and particle-size distribution (PSD) compositions. Afterwards, statistical tests were performed to determine the level of discrimination at different taxonomic and location-specific designations. The analogies showed different abilities to discriminate among the samples. Overall, analogies made up from the WE composition more accurately classified the samples than the other compositions, particularly at the Great Group and thermal regime designations. This work points to the potential to quantitatively discriminate taxonomically different soil types characterized by varying compositional datasets.

Effects of soot by-product from the synthesis of engineered metallofullerene nanomaterials on terrestrial invertebrates

The synthesis of carbon-based nanomaterials is often inefficient, generating large amounts of soot with metals as waste by-product. Currently, there are no specific regulations for disposal of engineered nanomaterials or the waste by-products resulting from their synthesis, so it is presumed that by-products are disposed of in the same way as the parent (bulk) materials. We studied the terrestrial toxicity of soot from gadolinium metallofullerene nanomanufacturing on earthworms (Eisenia fetida) and isopods (Porcellio scaber). The metallofullerene soot consisted of carbon particle agglomerates in the nanometer and submicrometer ranges (1-100 and 101-999 nm, respectively), with metals used during nanomanufacturing detectable on the particles. Despite high metal concentrations (>100 000 mg/kg) in the soot, only a relatively small amount of metals leached out of a spiked field soil, suggesting only moderate mobility. Seven- and 14-d exposures in field soil demonstrated that the soot was only toxic to earthworms at high concentrations (>10 000 mg/kg); however, earthworms avoided spiked soils at lower concentrations (as low as 500 mg/kg) and at lower soil pH. The presence of soot in food and soil did not cause isopod avoidance. These data demonstrate that metallofullerene soot from nanomanufacturing may only be toxic to earthworms at high concentrations representative of improper disposal or accidental spills. However, our results indicate that terrestrial invertebrates may avoid soils contaminated with soot at sublethal concentrations. Environ Toxicol Chem 2018;9999:1-12. Published 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of SETAC. This article is a US government work, and as such, is in the public domain in the United States of America.

Multivariate functions for predicting the sorption of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) and 1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-tricyclohexane (RDX) among taxonomically distinct soils

After nearly a century of use in numerous munition platforms, TNT and RDX contamination has turned up largely in the environment due to ammunition manufacturing or as part of releases from low-order detonations during training activities. Although the basic knowledge governing the environmental fate of TNT and RDX are known, accurate predictions of TNT and RDX persistence in soil remain elusive, particularly given the universal heterogeneity of pedomorphic soil types. In this work, we proposed a new solution for modeling the sorption and persistence of these munition constituents as multivariate mathematical functions correlating soil attribute data over a variety of taxonomically distinct soil types to contaminant behavior, instead of a single constant or parameter of a specific absolute value. To test this idea, we conducted experiments measuring the sorption of TNT and RDX on taxonomically different soil types that were extensively physical and chemically characterized. Statistical decomposition of the log-transformed, and auto-scaled soil characterization data using the dimension-reduction technique PCA (principal component analysis) revealed a strong latent structure based in the multiple pairwise correlations among the soil properties. TNT and RDX sorption partitioning coefficients (KD-TNT and KD-RDX) were regressed against this latent structure using partial least squares regression (PLSR), generating a 3-factor, multivariate linear functions. Here, PLSR models predicted KD-TNT and KD-RDX values based on attributes contributing to endogenous alkaline/calcareous and soil fertility criteria, respectively, exhibited among the different soil types: We hypothesized that the latent structure arising from the strong covariance of full multivariate geochemical matrix describing taxonomically distinguished soil types may provide the means for potentially predicting complex phenomena in soils. The development of predictive multivariate models tuned to a local soil's taxonomic designation would have direct benefit to military range managers seeking to anticipate the environmental risks of training activities on impact sites.