Leaching studies of a sludge produced by the physico-chemical treatment of wastewaters generated by a Ni/Cr plating plant were carried out in both sulphuric acid and ammoniacal media aiming to decide which of them would be the best treatment for this kind of waste material. The dissolution behaviour of some metals (Cu, Ni, Cr and Zn) was studied in order to assure the best metal recovery conditions in subsequent processes by the use of some separation methods such as solvent extraction and precipitation techniques. Therefore, the study here presented deals with the first chemical stage of an integrated treatment process. For the sulphuric acid leaching, maximal conversions obtained were 88.6% Cu, 98.0% Ni and 99.2% Zn for the following experimental conditions: a 100 g L(-1) acid concentration, a 5:1 liquid-to-solid ratio (L/S), a particle size less than 1 mm, a digestion time of 1h, a stirring speed of 700 rpm (all at room temperature and under atmospheric pressure). As expected, no selectivity was achieved for the sulphuric acid leaching, despite this option yielding much higher metal ion dissolution when compared with that reached by ammoniacal leaching. The use of this latter medium allowed the extraction of Cu and Ni without Cr species, but rates of conversion were only about 70% for Cu and 50% for Ni, much lower than those obtained for sulphuric acid leaching.

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Hydroxide-metal sludges from electroplating industry are a potential source of environmental contamination due to their high content of heavy metals. The incorporation of these residues in a ceramic matrix can be a promising way to suppress the harmful effect of metals normally present in those sludges. This work reports the role of the mixing time between the waste and ceramic materials and of the calcination step on the fixing level of several metal-containing species (Al, Zn, Ni, Fe, Ca, Cu, Cr) after sequential leaching in different media (aqueous, acetate and citrate). A strong and/or long mixing process will promote the deagglomeration of the coarser agglomerates and then will increase the reactivity of remaining grains towards the ceramic material during the calcination. As a consequence, inertization is improved for fired samples. With non-calcined samples leaching increases as a result of increasing dispersability/availability of species.

Cases of contamination by metals in the water wells of the Cavado Valley in north-west Portugal can be attributed to the heavy leaching of clay soils due to an excess of nitrogen resulting from the intensive use of fertilisers in agricultural areas. This work focuses on the natural weathering characteristics of soils, particularly the clay material, through the study of samples collected near the River Cavado. Samples taken from various sites, after physico-chemical characterisation, were subjected to clay dissolution tests, using sodium salts of different ionic forces, to detect the relationship between certain physico-chemical parameters of water, such as pH, nitrate, chloride and sulphate content, in the dissolution of clay and the subsequent extraction of such cations as Al, Fe and K. In acidic sandy clay soils, the mineralogical composition of which was characterised by a predominance of quartz, micas, kaolinite and K-feldspars, decreases of the clay material/water pH ratio increases dissolution of the micaceous and K-feldspars phases. The presence of nitrates in the aqueous solution apparently advanced the extraction of all three cations Al, Fe and K. The specific surface area of the clay material showed a significant correlation with the main kinetic parameters of cation extraction.