Metal leaching from the bridge paint waste in the presence of steel grit.

The disposal of paint waste from bridge rehabilitation is a significant issue because of the potential release of contaminants and the consequent impact to human health and the environment. In this study, leaching behavior of paint waste was evaluated for 24 bridges in New York State. Although elevated Pb (5-168,090 mg kg(-1)) and other metal concentrations were observed in the paint samples, leaching experiments that included the toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP) and the multiple extraction procedure (MEP) revealed toxicity characteristic (TC) limits were not exceeded. The relatively low concentrations observed are attributed to the use of iron-based abrasives (steel grit) in the paint removal process. In this research, trace metals are hypothesized to be sequestered through interactions with iron oxide coatings formed on the steel grit surface resulting in reduced leachable concentrations. Through sequential extraction iron oxides were observed at 11.03% by wt and X-ray diffraction (XRD) further corroborated the presence of iron oxide coatings on the steel grit surface. Sequential extraction demonstrated that less than 6.8% of Pb, Cr, and Ba were associated with the exchangeable and carbonate forms, while greater contributions were found with iron oxides. The largest fraction, however, greater than 80%, was associated with the residual phase comprised of minerals in the paint including SiO2 and TiO2.