A model for the leaching of major inorganics from retorted Rundle oil shale

A model is developed to describe the leaching of major soluble inorganics (the sulphate and chloride salts of calcium, magnesium, sodium and potassium) from processed oil shale sourced from the Rundle resource, Queensland, Australia. The model accounts for rapid dissolution of readily soluble salts,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Water research (Oxford) 1993, Vol.27 (2), p.277-291
Main Authors: Krol, A.A., Bell, P.R.F., Greenfield, P.F.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied sciences
chemical equilibria
Exact sciences and technology
finite element
Freshwater
Industrial wastes
Inorganic compounds
Leaching
Mathematical models
modelling
Oil shale
Other industrial wastes. Sewage sludge
Pollution
Q1
retorted shale
Rundle
salt transport
Salts
unsaturated flow
Wastes
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Summary:A model is developed to describe the leaching of major soluble inorganics (the sulphate and chloride salts of calcium, magnesium, sodium and potassium) from processed oil shale sourced from the Rundle resource, Queensland, Australia. The model accounts for rapid dissolution of readily soluble salts, the formation of non-charged ion pairs in solution, cation exchange and slow dissolution/precipitation of calcium sulphate (anhydride/gypsum). Leachate results from an experiment involving irrigation of an initially dry column of processed shale are used to validate the model. A piston model is used to account for unsaturated water flow, and this is expressed in the water quality model by a moving bottom boundary condition. Tracer experiments show that a good basis for the leaching model is the classic convection-dispersion model. A moving node finite element method is used to obtain a numerical solution to this leaching model. The model provides a good description of the leaching of each inorganic species. Deviations between model predictions and experimental results are greatest at slower flowrates and for monovalent cations. It is concluded that the main chemical mechanisms controlling leaching of major inorganics from processed shale have been identified.
ISSN:0043-1354
1879-2448
DOI:10.1016/0043-1354(93)90087-X