Mechanical activation for sulfidic tailings treatment by tailings: Environmental aspects and cement consumption reduction

Sulfidic mine tailings are one of the massive hazardous solid wastes, containing large amounts of toxic heavy metals. Poor management of tailings can lead to the production of acid mine drainage and the heavy metal transfer emissions into the environment. Thus, in this study, mechanical activation was used to reuse a combination of carbonate tailings (T C ) and sulfidic tailings (T S ) for concrete construction purposes and to effectively immobilize heavy metals. The results showed that after tailings treatment, the heavy metal leaching rate was significantly below the allowed criteria based on the toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP). The mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) test results on the specific surface area and porosity after the activation pointed out increase and reduction, respectively. In the concrete sample containing 20 % cement-replacing activated tailings, the critical pore diameter after 28 curing days was 60 nm, which was less than that of the control sample with a critical pore diameter of 150 nm. According to X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), ettringite and calcium silicate hydrate gel acted as hosts for heavy metals ions and played an inevitable role in stabilizing metal pollutants. Results revealed that the compressive strength of the sample containing 20 % of the activated tailings after 28 curing days was 31.2 MPa, which was higher than the strength of the control sample (26.99 MPa). Overall, it was concluded that the combined mechanically activated mine tailings can be a viable substitute for cement (up to 40 %) for constructing concrete samples. The utilized combined approach led to diminish adverse effect of sulfide content in concrete samples besides the cement consumption reduction. • Cement-replacing tailings did not have negative impact on metal leaching rate. • Stabilized samples had a higher strength than the stabilization process criteria. • Mechanical activation of tailings reduced cement consumption by 20 %. • Tailings treatment achieved to promising results for hazardous waste management.