Investigation of Factors Affecting the Fate and Transport of Toxic Elements from the Wastes of Zinc Leaching Plant to Environment

This paper examines the main factors affecting transport of toxic elements from waste of leaching of Zinc leaching plant to the environment، during which behavior and solubility of heavy metals and toxic levels of Zn، Ni، Co، Cd، Mn and Pb in column leaching were investigated. Parameters included: flow rate، pH of input solution and leaching time. Filter cake highest solubility leaching was found at flow rate = 1×10-6 m3/min، pH = 5 and time = 20 days. A multiple regression analysis was applied to identify the effective parameters. Leaching time was the dominant factor on transport of toxic elements to the environment. A geostatistical commercial software called SPSS 15 was used to relate dissolution percent to flow rate، pH and leaching time. Critical situation in which toxic elements would be transported from Zinc leaching plant were determined.