Abstract
The main objective of this project was to develop a guidance document on selecting appropriate leaching methods for evaluating the leaching properties for non-volatile organic compounds from waste and contaminated soil and on interpreting leaching test results for impact assessment. The guidance document is developed based upon the outcome of a 2 days seminar with participants from the project group and from Technical University in Denmark and ECN in the Netherlands.
This framework is applicable for non-volatile organic compounds consisted in granular soils or waste materials. Within this framework the management scenario plays a central role for testing and evaluation of impact. The framework consists of six steps as shown in the Figure below. Together these steps provide the information necessary for selecting an appropriated leaching program based upon which an impact assessment may be conducted in order to decide for management strategy or for contaminated sites corrective actions. On each step guidance and recommendations will be given in order to define the core of the problem, to choose appropriate methods for describing the leaching properties and to interpret the results of the leaching test in a proper way.
- Step 1: Definition of the problem
- Step 2: Description of the scenario
- Step 3: Description of the waste / soil
- Step 4: Selection of leaching methods
- Step 5: Interpretation of leaching test results
- Step 6 : Leaching results as input for impact assessment
In this report focus has been on leaching test for non-volatile organic compounds (e.g. PCBs, dioxins and furans, 2,4-dinitritoluene, PAH, aliphatic hydrocarbons (especially the higher carbons), aromatic hydrocarbons (other than BTEX and PAH)). These compounds are regarded as relevant for leaching tests because they are included in EU legislation (e.g. with limit values for groundwater quality) and they have physical-chemical interactions with soils and waste that makes it complicated, if not impossible, to predict the release by theoretical considerations.
This framework is in accordance with a methodology guideline developed for inorganic constituents under the European Standardization Organisation – CEN/TC 292/ WG 6 (EN 12920).
