See more from this Division: S11 Soils & Environmental Quality
See more from this Session: Pesticides and Contaminants in Soil: II (includes Graduate Student Competition)/Div. S11 Business Meeting
Tuesday, 7 October 2008: 1:15 PM
George R. Brown Convention Center, 362AB
Abstract:
Oxidative dissolution of cinnabar from contaminated Oak Ridge soil by iron oxides
Chen Jian, Fengxiang X. Han, Yi Su, David L. Monts, and Charles A. Waggoner
Institute for Clean Energy Technology (ICET)
Mississippi State University, 205 Research Blvd. Starkville, MS 39759, USA
ABSTRACT
Historically as part of its national security mission, the U.S. Department of Energys Y-12 National Security Facility in Oak Ridge, TN, USA acquired a significant fraction of the worlds supply of elemental mercury. During the 1950s and 1960s, a large amount of elemental mercury escaped confinement and is still present in the buildings and grounds of the Y-12 Facility and in the Y-12 Watershed. Because of the adverse effects of elemental mercury and mercury compounds upon human health, the Oak Ridge Site is engaged in an on-going effort to monitor and remediate the area. The main thrust of the Oak Ridge mercury remediation effort is currently scheduled for implementation in FY09. In order to more cost effectively implement those extensive remediation efforts, it is necessary now to obtain an improved understanding of the role that mercury and mercury compounds play in the Oak Ridge ecosystem.
Most recently, concentrations of both total mercury and methylmercury in fish and water of lower East Fork Poplar Creek (LEFPC) of Oak Ridge increased although the majority of mercury in the site is mercury sulfide. This drives the US DOE and the Oak Ridge Site to study the long-term bioavailability of mercury and speciation at the site. The stability and bioavailability of mercury sulfide as affected by various biogeochemical conditions presence of iron oxides have been studied. We examined the kinetic rate of dissolution of cinnabar from Oak Ridge soils and possible mechanisms and pathways in triggering the most recent increase of mercury solubility, bioavailability and mobility in Oak Ridge site. The effects of pH and chlorine on oxidative dissolution of cinnabar from cinnabar-contaminated Oak Ridge soils will be discussed.
See more from this Division: S11 Soils & Environmental Quality
See more from this Session: Pesticides and Contaminants in Soil: II (includes Graduate Student Competition)/Div. S11 Business Meeting