PROCESS FOR FIXING LEAD-CONTAMINATED ECOLOGICALLY HAZARDOUS INDUSTRIAL WASTE MATERIALS USING CLINOPTILOLITE ZEOLITE

摘要

There is provided a method for the ecologically safe disposal of lead-contaminated hazardous industrial wastes (such, as for example, those generated as discardable by-products in primary and secondary lead smelting operations, especially, blast furnace slags and matte), which comprises reducing the size of the lead-contaminated industrial wastes and treating them, prior to encapsulation in a hardenable material, with the naturally occuring zeolite, clinoptilolite, in an amount sufficient to prevent lead ions (Pb+2) from leaching out of such industrial wastes, through exposure to the action of atmospheric agents (e.g., hot air and rain, or as a result of cyclical freezing and thawing in temperature climates), even over an extended period of time.