DUBAI MUNICIPALITY

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ENVIRONMENT DEPARTMENT ‫ﺇﺩﺍﺭﺓ ﺍﻟﺒﻴــــﺌﺔ‬
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ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION & Technical Guideline
SAFETY SECTION

NUMBER 23

Procedures for Testing the Leaching Characteristics of

Hazardous Wastes

Background:

The total concentration of a component in a waste is not always a good

indicator of its environmental impact. The amount of a component which is
readily soluble or only weakly bound in the waste will indicate the capacity of
that waste to contribute hazardous components to landfill leachates.

The following describes a standard leachate testing procedure to be applied

to hazardous waste solids and sludges containing heavy metals above 100
ppm total metal or any other wastes as directed by the EPSS.

Guidelines:

1. This test procedure will be known as the EPSS Elutriation Test.

2. Refer to Technical Guideline 24 for information regarding

representative sampling of hazardous wastes.

3. Preparation of the Sample

The representative sample (not less than 100 gm) is crushed so that
not less than 90% passes through 9.5 mm mesh size. The crushed
sample is weighted and mixed with not more than 16 times its own
weight of de-ionised water at 20oc. The pH of the water is adjusted to
5.0 + 0.2 using 0.5N acetic acid and maintained within these limits by
regular additions of acid. The total quantity of acid should not exceed 4
ml. per gm of solid sample.

The pH may be maintained by use of an automatic pH controller with a

metering device or by manual additions. The manual procedure
requires initial pH adjustment at 15, 30 and 60 minute intervals
followed by doubling time intervals if the pH at this stage does not
require an adjustment in excess of 0.5 pH units. Further adjustments, if
required, should be carried our for at least six hours.

1
 If the pH is in excess of 5.2 a the end of the 24 hour extraction period
and the 4 ml per gm limit has not been exceeded, the pH is reduced to
5.0 and maintained at his level by hourly additions over an additional
four hour extraction period. For certain wastes it may be necessary to
substitute a different elutriant (e.g. deionised water at pH 7.0 + 0.5 for
cyanide wastes; deionised water saturated with carbon dioxide where a
total organic is required.).

4. Extraction Procedure

The aqueous suspension is agitated for 24 hours using a magnetic or

vibrating stirrer and the aqueous phase is then separated and
analyzed for toxic components. At the end of the extraction period de-
ionised water is added, if necessary, to ensure that ratio of weighed
sample (gm) to the total volume of liquid added (ml) is 1:20.

5. Analysis of Aqueous Extracts

The extract from 4 is subjected to normal analytical procedures.

FURTHER INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE FROM:

ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION AND SAFETY SECTION

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