Research on the environmental stability performance of chromite ore processing residue solidified products

Abstract

Chromite ore processing residue (COPR) is a hazardous waste because of leachable chromium, especially Cr(VI). Therefore, ascorbic acid (AA) and blast furnace slag (BFS) have been used to detoxify and solidify COPR. On this basis, environmental stability experiments with high temperature and freeze–thaw cycles were carried out to explore the stability performance of a solidified body with 40% COPR. The environmental stability performance was analyzed through changes in edge length, mass loss, compressive strength development, and leaching concentration of Cr(VI). The result indicated that the high-temperature environment had much more effect on the solidified body than the freeze–thaw cycle environment in these four aspects: after being maintained at 900 °C for 2 h, the compressive strength of the solidified bodies reached its minimum value (35.76 MPa). However, in the freeze–thaw cycle experiments, the compressive strength of the solidified bodies consistently remained above 80 MPa, and the leaching of hexavalent chromium was below the limit (5 mg L⁻¹). In addition, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR) analysis verified that COPR was effectively solidified through physical and chemical means. Moreover, high temperature changes the molecular structure of the solidified body, thus reducing the compressive strength and curing ability of the solidified body, while the freeze–thaw cycle experiment has little effect on it.