TY - JOUR
T1 - The geochemical evolution of brines from phosphogypsum deposits in Huelva (SW Spain) and its environmental implications
AU - Lieberman, Roy Nir
AU - Izquierdo, Maria
AU - Córdoba, Patricia
AU - Moreno Palmerola, Natalia
AU - Querol, Xavier
AU - Sánchez de la Campa, Ana M.
AU - Font, Oriol
AU - Cohen, Haim
AU - Knop, Yaniv
AU - Torres-Sánchez, Raquel
AU - Sánchez-Rodas, Daniel
AU - Muñoz-Quiros, Carmen
AU - de la Rosa, Jesús D.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2020/1/15
Y1 - 2020/1/15
N2 - The present study focuses on the geochemistry of large phosphogypsum deposits in Huelva (SW Spain). Phosphogypsum slurry waste from fertiliser production was disposed in large ponds containing aqueous waste (i.e. brines) and exposed to weathering. These evaporation ponds were found to be dynamic environments far from attaining steady state conditions where a number of trace pollutants are subjected to temporal variations in response to changing environmental conditions. Chemical, mineralogical and morphological data were used to improve our understanding on the dynamics of a large number of elements in the phosphogypsum-brine-evaporation deposits system. Weekly sampling of brines over the course of 1 yr indicated a substantial enrichment in potentially harmful elements (e.g. As, Cr, Cu, F, Ni, U, V, Zn) present in time-dependent concentrations. The evaporation deposits formed multi-layered precipitates of chlorides, sulphates, phosphates and fluorides containing a large number of pollutants in readily soluble forms. The precipitation sequence revealed a time-dependent composition reflecting alternating precipitation and re-dissolution processes associated with seasonal changes in the local weather conditions. Concatenation of precipitation/re-dissolution stages was found to progressively enrich the brines in pollutants. These findings were supported by the observations from a tank experiment simulating the phosphogypsum-brine-evaporation deposits system under laboratory conditions. Given the substantially high concentrations of pollutants present in mobile forms in the brine-salt system, actions to abate these compounds should be implemented.
AB - The present study focuses on the geochemistry of large phosphogypsum deposits in Huelva (SW Spain). Phosphogypsum slurry waste from fertiliser production was disposed in large ponds containing aqueous waste (i.e. brines) and exposed to weathering. These evaporation ponds were found to be dynamic environments far from attaining steady state conditions where a number of trace pollutants are subjected to temporal variations in response to changing environmental conditions. Chemical, mineralogical and morphological data were used to improve our understanding on the dynamics of a large number of elements in the phosphogypsum-brine-evaporation deposits system. Weekly sampling of brines over the course of 1 yr indicated a substantial enrichment in potentially harmful elements (e.g. As, Cr, Cu, F, Ni, U, V, Zn) present in time-dependent concentrations. The evaporation deposits formed multi-layered precipitates of chlorides, sulphates, phosphates and fluorides containing a large number of pollutants in readily soluble forms. The precipitation sequence revealed a time-dependent composition reflecting alternating precipitation and re-dissolution processes associated with seasonal changes in the local weather conditions. Concatenation of precipitation/re-dissolution stages was found to progressively enrich the brines in pollutants. These findings were supported by the observations from a tank experiment simulating the phosphogypsum-brine-evaporation deposits system under laboratory conditions. Given the substantially high concentrations of pollutants present in mobile forms in the brine-salt system, actions to abate these compounds should be implemented.
KW - Brine
KW - Evaporation pond
KW - Hazardous waste
KW - Heavy metals
KW - Phosphogypsum
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85074264365&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134444
DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134444
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C2 - 31689656
AN - SCOPUS:85074264365
SN - 0048-9697
VL - 700
JO - Science of the Total Environment
JF - Science of the Total Environment
M1 - 134444
ER -