Application of Steel-Smelting Slags as Material for Reclamation of Disturbed Lands

• Main Authors: Vera Anatolevna Matveeva, Tatiana Lytaeva, Aleksandr Sergeevich Danilov
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Polish Society of Ecological Engineering (PTIE) 2018-11-01
• Series: Journal of Ecological Engineering
• Subjects: sewage sludge; mining and metallurgical industries; steelmaking slag; organomineral additive; recultivant; growing of grass
• Online Access: http://www.journalssystem.com/jeeng/Application-of-steel-smelting-slags-as-material-for-reclamation-of-disturbed-lands,93511,0,2.html

Presently, the highest level of waste generation is characterized by ferrous metallurgy enterprises, whose large-tonnage wastes are slags of various industries. Taking into account the negative impact of slags on the environment, the limited opportunities for expanding dump volumes, as well as the depletion of sources of raw mineral raw materials, the aim of research was the development of an alternative method for utilization of steel-smelting slags of the mining and metallurgical complex. As materials of the study, the steel smelting slag of the Novolipetsk metallurgical plant and the sewage sludge of the city water treatment station in Lipetsk were selected. In the laboratory, the chemical composition of the waste was determined by a complex of modern analytical methods, including atomic emission spectrometry with inductively coupled plasma, X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, and atomic absorption spectrometry with electrothermal atomization. The results of the analysis made it possible to assess the possibility of sharing waste as a soil additive to improve the quality of the soil. Then, in the laboratory conditions, the grass mixture was grown on model soil samples with a soil additive consisting of the investigated waste with a different mass ratio. On the basis of the obtained data on seed germination, the growth of the aerial part of the biomass, the height of the leaves, and also the content of the accumulated metals in the plants, a formulation of an organomineral additive was proposed for poor soils of disturbed lands.