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Quality assurance is an essential requirement in many areas of soil testing. Soil sampling plays an important role in soil investigation. One important quality assurance measure is evidence of the competence of institutions offering sampling services (testing laboratories) to carry out appropriate sampling. A special quality assurance procedure has been developed in the course of the investigation and assessment of suspected and contaminated sites on federal property. Testing laboratories are granted official recognition by an independent competent institution, based on well-defined criteria with regard to testing methodology and the qualifications held by the personnel. A prerequisite for such recognition is an effective accreditation procedure. Currently only testing laboratories with recognised status are commissioned for work on contaminated sites on federal property.
Composite liners (a geomembrane in intimate contact with a mineral liner) are frequently used to line landfills and contaminated sites. It is therefore very important to characterise the behaviour of these systems even under extreme conditions.
An investigation was undertaken to determine the influence of a mixture of concentrated organic contaminants on composite liner materials taken from test cells that had been dismantled after a 12-year permeation test.
The organic hydrocarbons had permeated the HDPE-geomembrane and had then migrated or had been adsorbed within the mineral liners, depending on their properties. The obtained concentration profiles of the contaminant mixture components indicate that the various mineral layer materials have selective retardation abilities which correspond to the different parameters of the organic compounds as well as of the mineral layer.
In addition, contaminant transport in the composite liners tested was modelled and the results of the model analysis compared with measurement data. An example (acetone) illustrates the calculated spatial and temporal contaminant concentration.
The composite liners investigated exhibit a very good sealing capacity against the concentrated organic contaminants used.
The fabric of mineral liner materials that had been exposed to organic compounds over a 12-year period was investigated as part of a wider research project. Macromorphological and micromorphological changes in the fabric were identified using computed tomography and polarisation microscopy.
Special care was taken to ensure artefact free sampling and sample preparation, in particular, the drying method used, has a substantial influence on the quality of the thin sections.
Fabric changes due to contaminant permeation over several years are, by and large, relatively small and their intensity is material specific. Silty clay CML1, in particular, contains a somewhat greater number of fissures and voids in comparison with the original material. The superposition of various processes in both test procedures and sample preparation may lead to fabric changes which can impede interpretation of the results.
Synthetic athletic tracks and turf areas for outdoor sporting grounds may release contaminants due to the chemical composition of some components. A primary example is that of zinc from reused scrap tires (main constituent, styrene butadiene rubber, SBR), which might be harmful to the environment. Thus, methods for the risk assessment of those materials are required. Laboratory leaching methods like batch and column tests are widely used to examine the soil–groundwater pathway. We tested several components for artificial sporting grounds with batch tests at a liquid to solid (LS) ratio of 2 L/kg and column tests with an LS up to 26.5 L/kg. We found a higher zinc release in the batch test eluates for all granules, ranging from 15% higher to 687% higher versus data from column tests for SBR granules. Accompanying parameters, especially the very high turbidity of one ethylene propylene diene monomer rubber (EPDM) or thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) eluates, reflect the stronger mechanical stress of batch testing. This indicates that batch test procedures might not be suitable for the risk assessment of synthetic sporting ground components. Column tests, on the other hand, represent field conditions more closely and allow for determination of time-dependent contaminants release.
Artificial surfaces for outdoor sporting grounds may pose environmental and health hazards that are difficult to assess due to their complex chemical composition. Ecotoxicity tests can indicate general hazardous impacts. We conducted growth inhibition (Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata) and acute toxicity tests (Daphnia magna) with leachates obtained from batch tests of granular infill material and column tests of complete sporting ground assemblies. Ethylene propylene diene monomer rubber (EPDM) leachate showed the highest effect on Daphnia magna (EC50 < 0.4% leachate) and the leachate of scrap tires made of styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) had the highest effect on P. subcapitata (EC10 = 4.2% leachate; EC50 = 15.6% leachate). We found no correlations between ecotoxicity potential of leachates and zinc and PAH concentrations. Leachates obtained from column tests revealed lower ecotoxicological potential. Leachates of column tests of complete assemblies may be used for a reliable risk assessment of artificial sporting grounds.
Thin film chalcogenide photovoltaic technologies (CIGS, CdTe) make use of critical and toxic materials. Therefore a sound recycling of production waste and of end-of-life PV modules is essential to increase the availability of critical materials and to decrease the environmental impact of the products. Several processes to recover metals and semiconductors from thin-film PV modules have been developed, with some being operated at pilot scale. This paper presents an overview of proven recycling concepts. The approaches were divided into three steps: 'delamination of the modules', 'decoating of the substrate' and 'extraction and refining of the metals and semiconductors' to illustrate possible recycling paths. For each step feasible mechanical or chemical processes are presented and their advantages and drawbacks are described. The results show that recycling technologies for chalcogenide photovoltaic modules are sufficiently explored and commercially available. However, the responsibility to set up efficient collection and recycling systems is in the hands of the PV producers and must be supported by appropriate policies.
Laboratory leaching tests may be used for source term determination as a basis for risk assessment for soilgroundwater pathways on contaminated sites. In order to evaluate different leaching procedures, batch extraction tests and percolation tests were performed using three reference materials produced from contaminated soil, demolition waste and municipal solid waste incinerator bottom ash. Emphasis was placed on the investigation of the leachability of the heavy metals copper and chromium, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and the anions chloride and sulfate. Significant discrepancies between column experiments and batch/extraction tests were found for the release of PAHs and to a lesser extent for the heavy metals Cu and Cr. Additionally interlaboratory comparisons were conducted based on different leaching tests with the reference materials and evaluated using the criteria of comparability and reproducibility. The best reproducibility was achieved for all investigated substances in column tests. The reproducibility of batch tests was acceptable except for PAHs. The results from the experimental work will help establish standardized and feasible laboratory procedures as fundamental for substance specific risk assessment of contaminated sites.
Laboratory leaching tests may be used for source term determination as a basis for risk assessment for soilgroundwater pathway (leachate forecast) on contaminated sites in Germany. Interlaboratory comparisons on the evaluation of the reproducibility of column percolation tests were conducted within the framework of an integrated R + D program using three waste reference materials.
The interlaboratory comparisons of column percolation tests showed good reproducibility of the results for inorganic and organic parameters as well as for the accompanying parameters. This is due to the stipulations concerning the time of contact between leachant and sample material as well as the sample placement in the columns. Different column dimensions used by the participants of the interlaboratory comparisons did not have any substantial influence on the column test results.