Chakkaphan Sutthirat

Effect of pH on transport of Pb2+, Mn2+, Zn2+ and Ni2+ through lateritic soil: Column experiments and transport modeling

This study investigated the effects of pH on the transport of Pb2+, Mn2+, Zn2+ and Ni2+ through lateritic soil columns. Model results by fitting the symmetric breakthrough curves (BTCs) of bromide (Br-) with CXTFIT model suggested that physical non-equilibrium processes were absent in the columns. The heavy metal BTCs were, however, asymmetrical and exhibited a tailing phenomenon, indicating the presence of chemical non-equilibrium processes in the columns. The retardation factors of Pb2+ were the largest of the four metal ions at both pH 4.0 (33.3) and pH 5.0 (35.4). The use of Langmuir isotherm parameters from batch studies with HYDRUS-1D did not predict the BTCs well. Rather the two-site model (TSM) described the heavy metal BTCs better than the equilibrium linear/nonlinear Langmuir model. The fraction of instantaneous sorption sites (f) of all four metal ions on the lateritic soil was consistently about 30%-44% of the total sorption sites.

Competitive sorption and transport of Pb2+, Ni2+, Mn2+, and Zn2+ in lateritic soil columns.

Knowledge of sorption and transport of heavy metals in soils in the presence of other metals is crucial for assessing the environmental risk of these metals. Competitive sorption and transport of four metals, Pb(2+), Ni(2+), Zn(2+), and Mn(2+), were investigated using multi-metal column experiments with lateritic soils obtained from a gold mine impacted by acid mine drainage. Based on Pb(2+) breakthrough time for single-metal system at a pH of approximately 5, the sorption capacity of Pb(2+) was estimated to be higher in lateritic soil than the other metals. For multi-metal systems, the estimated retardation factors for the metals from highest to lowest were: Pb(2+)>Zn(2+)∼ Ni(2+)>Mn(2+), suggesting the mobility of metals through lateritic soil for a multi-metal system would be in the order of Mn(2+)>Ni(2+)∼ Zn(2+)>Pb(2+). For binary and multi-metal systems, the estimated sorption capacities of individual metals were found to be lower than the sorption capacities in single metal system - indicating possible competition for sorption sites. Mass recoveries estimates showed that the sorption of metals was more reversible under competitive multi-metal systems than in single metal systems.

Mineralogy and geochemistry of tailings from a gold mine in northeastern Thailand

ABSTRACT Mineralogical and geochemical characteristics of tailings from a gold mine in northeastern Thailand were investigated in relation to acid mine drainage (AMD) and the release potentials of toxic elements. The tailings can be divided into upper tailings and lower tailings. The upper tailings usually contain pyrrhotite, pyrite ± chalcopyrite, calcite, quartz, andradite and diopside. The lower tailings mainly contain goethite, quartz, chlorite, muscovite, calcite and hematite ± pyrrhotite. These assemblages clearly relate to the original types of gold deposit prior to mining and mineral processing. The upper tailings are defined as potential acid forming (PAF), whereas the lower tailings are classified as non-acid forming (NAF). Regarding heavy metals, apart from high Mn level, the other heavy metals appear to have low concentrations in the upper tailings. On the other hand, the lower tailings contain high contents of As, Cu and Pb, which appear to be higher than the National Total Threshold Limit Concentrations. Goethite, the main mineral assemblage in the lower tailings, reveals characteristic of arsenic adsorbent. As a result, the tailing pond is recommended to be covered to prevent the oxidizing processes of the upper tailings; otherwise, AMD generation may take place soon after the mine closure. Land reclamation and monitoring plans must be planned very well and carried out with great care since arsenic contamination has been reported in steam water close to the tailing dam.

Factors controlling the release of metals and a metalloid from the tailings of a gold mine in Thailand

This study focused on assessing the release potential of various metals and a metalloid (arsenic; As) leached from gold mine tailings under three different degrees of acidity (pH 2, 4 and 6.5) using a synthetic precipitation leaching procedure (SPLP). Tailings were collected from four pits from 0 to 16 m depth, approximately. The samples were divided into the three types, based on their position in the tailings and on other physical characteristics, of the sulphide (c. 5 m depth), mixing (c. 1 m depth) and oxide (c. 10 m depth) zones. This study was primarily concerned with the concentrations of As and Mn, which were found to exceed the Thailand Industrial Effluent Standard (TIES) in the tailings from all zones. Principal component analysis revealed that the release of metals and As from the tailings under acidic conditions, as well as the metals and As mobility, was mainly controlled by the pH and redox conditions. Moreover, the first principal component had high positive loadings of Mn, Pb, Co and Ni (R2 > 0.80), indicating that these four metals are either released into the environment from a common source or/and their geochemical behaviour in the aqueous phase is similar. Supplementary material: Concentration of metals and As leached from the sulphide mixing and oxide zones at differing pHs are available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3840154

Geochemical characteristics and new eruption ages of ruby-related basalts from southeast Kenya

Two ruby-related basaltic fields were recently discovered in the southeast region of Kenya, exposed in the Nguu and Ngulai Hills vicinities. These fields host abundant deep-seated xenoliths, including corundum-bearing granulites. The basalts are alkaline affinity having compositions from foidrite to basanite. The Ngulai basalts have a wider range of SiO2 (38.2 wt.%–44.8 wt.%) covering those of the Nguu basalts (38.7 wt.%–42.3 wt.%). This overlapping behavior also holds for other major oxides and trace elements, e.g., Al2O3, Na2O, K2O, Cr, Ni, Rb and Ga. The overall OIB-like incompatible patterns with strong K depletion and slight spike of Ti enrichment signatures imply low degrees of partial melting of the upper mantle region source induced under a mantle plume-related process. The K-depletion signature indicates a residual K-bearing phase still retained in the source domain. Chondrite-normalized REE patterns exhibiting strong LREE enrichment without Eu anomalies suggest that plagioclase fractionation is insignificant. New 40Ar/39Ar ages indicate eruption events occurred during the Pleistocene times, which are around 2 Ma for the Ngulai basalts and 0.9 to 1.6 Ma for the Nguu basalts. Clinopyroxene-basalt thermobarometric calculations yield the equilibrium P-T ranges of ∼8-29 kbar and 1 200–1 450 °C.

Removal of Cd2+, Pb2+ and Zn2+ from contaminated water using dolomite powder

ABSTRACT Dolomite collected from Surat Thani Province in Thailand was investigated for use as a sorbent for the removal of divalent heavy metal cations from an aqueous solution. The sorbent had a surface area of 2.46 m2/g and a pH of zero point charge (pHzpc) of 9.2. Batch sorption was used to examine the effect of the pH (pH 3–7) on the sorption capacity of Cd2+, Pb2+ and Zn2+, alone or together as an equimolar mixture at various concentrations. Alone, each heavy metal cation was adsorbed faster at a higher pH, where the sorption of Cd2+ and Pb2+ fitted a Langmuir isotherm, but Zn2+ sorption best fitted a Freundlich isotherm. Under equimolar competitive sorption, the sorption capacity of each cation was decreased by 75.8% (0.29–0.07 mM/g), 82.8% (0.53–0.09 mM/g), and 95.7% (0.84–0.04 mM/g) for Cd2+, Pb2+ and Zn2+, respectively, compared to that with the respective single cation. Desorption of these heavy metal cations from dolomite was low, with an average desorption level of 0.06–17.4%. Furthermore, since dolomite is readily available and rather cheap, it is potentially suitable for use as an efficient sorbent to sorb Cd2+ and Pb2+, and perhaps Zn2+, from contaminated water.