Contaminant Rnigration from Disposal of Acid Tar N'astes in Fractured Coal
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Contaminantrnigration from disposalof acid tar n'astesin fractured Coal Measuresstrata, southernDerbvshire D. BANKSI.2,N. L. NESBIT3,T. FIRTH] 4 & S. PowER5'6 I ScottWiison Kirkpatrick, Ba.yheathHouse, RoseHilt West,Chester/ieltl, Derbyshire 540 lJF, UK. 2 Presentadtlress: Norges Geologiske Undersokelse, Postboks 3006-Lacle, N7002 Trondheim,Narwa;y. 3 Aspinvall&Conlpany,lYalford Ma.nor, Baschurch, Shrevvshur),, Shropshire Sy4 2HH,IJK. a Presentaddress: Rendel Geotechnics, 6I Southvt'arkStreet, Southw,ark, LondonSEI lSA, UK. ssection.for EngineeringGeology, Department of Geology,Roya[ Schoolof Mines, Imperial Collegeof Science,Technologl' and Medicine,Prince ConsortRoad, London SW7 2BP, UK. 6Presentaddress: Mott ConnellLtd, l2th Floor, Sun Hung Kai Centre,30Harbour Roat1, Wanchai,Hong Kong Abntract. In excessof 60000 ml of acidic tai wasLeifrom a lubricating oil facrory havebeen disposedin old clay pits at a siteon Coal Measulesstrata near Belper,southern Derbyshire, UK. A site investigationwa.s carried oul to usses!the nature and volume of lhe waste,lhe extentof contaminantrnigration and possibleremeciiatjon optlons. Thc wastcshavc mig.ratcd as free phase,gravity'driven flows of nerni-fluid tar. Thesetar flows have ied to contamination of on-sitc ponds by hydrocarbon emulsions and dissolved phase contaminanrs.I.imited gronndwatercontamination by dissolvedphase contaminants has also ocrurred.At present. ;ro impact on of-site surfacewater rcccptors has bccn detectedand no risk to any water abstraction has been identified. The site in'estigation has confirn:ed the exceedinglycomplex nature of the Coal Measuressequence. The Coal Mcasuresexhibit some aspectsof a multi- layer aqnifer system, dorninant fracture flow mechanisms. strong anisotropy governed by fracture orienlation ancl a heterr)geneousand discontinuousclis[dbution of groundwater heads.indications of strong vertical head gradients,possibly related to under-drainageby mine workings, weredetected. { Introduction consultantsto carry out the investigation.Scott j Wilson Kirkpatrick was cmploycdto manage Thc studysite is iocatednear the town of ,Belper the siteinvestigation and assist in interpretation. : in southernDerbyshirc and comprisesa number The site investigationwas executed by Wimpey of old clay pits in Lower Coal Measuresstrata Environmental Limited, while a geophysical which have been usedIor the clisposalof acid surveywas carried out by the BritishGeological tars -- a waste product fron'r the re-refrningof Survcy. Funding for the project has been pro- usedlubricating oils. Derbyshire Counry Council vided by English Partncrships (forrnerly the (DCC) commissionedan investigationwith the Department of the Environment)through a followingobjectives: DerelictLand Grant. r definethe areaand volumeof thcscpits; r definethe extentto which theyhave contami- natedthe surroundingsoils and groundwater; Objective of thi.spapcr . assessthe potentialfor migrationof contami- The paper provide nation off-site; objectiveof this is not to an in-depthcase analysis of the resulting . recommcndalternativcs for rcmediationof soil ali data anclgroundwater. from the studyof thc tar pits. In particular,the paperdoes not discussdetails of chemicalana- This informationwas required as part of a pro- iyresof contaminatcdsoil, geotechnicalpropcr- posalto redevelopthe site.DCC cornmissioned ties of the site,nor the dctailedhydrochemistry Aspinwall& Companyand a tearnof associated of the groundwaterat the site. Indeed,due to B.lxrs, D., NEsBrr,N. L.. FrnrH, T. & Powrx, S. 1998.Contarninant migration from disposillof acid tar wastesin fractured Coal Measuressirata, southern Derbyshire.In: Mrtxen, J., BeNrs. D.. Duvplsro^*, S. & Frnvon, M. (cds) Gronnrlryater('.lontarninants and their Migruti<tn. Ceologicirl Society. London. Special Publications, r28.283 -31 1. Suppliedby The BritishLibrary - "Theworld's knowledge" J. BANKS ET ,41. rheiirct that therewas no eviscr-lceof sigtriliceintthe srrlvenlexrtact front the tar inc'licareclit tcr ofi'-sitemigration of cclntaminantsin ground- or bc predorninantlycomposecl of components surfarce-wrrter.thc intensiryof hycirochenricalwith a higherboiling point rhan Cr: n-alkane. investigationw?ls not as great as would have Additioniiliy,free, acidic oils areencounrerecl becndesirable tiorn a rcscsrch-orientedstudy. on the site. These may be associatedwith Neverthelcss,the study has provided useful r:xcessiveuse of sulphuricacid in the re-refining inforrnationon lhehydrogeology and. in particu- proccss.but mayzriso bc derivedfrom weathcr- lar. the contaminantflow pathwayswithin the i:rg of the tars. The oii typicallyconsists ol Coal Measuresaquifcr system. lt is this aspect E7o4saiuratcd hydrocarbon with boilingpoinrs on which the paper lbcuses,ahhough it also in the Crs-Cz.iiange, 7Yo aromaticsand 6% aims tr: placesuch inlbrmation in the context polar resin. of the siteas a whole,anci the possibieremedial The Fuller's Earth urarcrialsindicatc the options for clcan-up.To supporr this objecrive cyclohcxane-extractabiematerial a<isorbedin thc paperdraws rrpon the dislributionof a lim- the Fuiler'sEarth to conslstof 85% saturated itcd range of inorganic chemical paramcters. hydrtrcarbons,7o/o poiar resinsand 7o/onro- The samplingof organicparai'neters was aot matics.The hydrocarbonsare dominantlyin intensecnough to allow an elucidationol theC16 C2_1range. Analytical results are dctailed groundwatcrflow characteristicsto be basedon in TableI. thedistribution of suchpararneters. 'Ihe site Origin of ucicltar u,astes Locution Acid tar wastesarise from severaldifferent indus- trial refiningproccsses, including benzoie refin- The studysite (tig. 1) is splitinto two distinct ing, oil re-refiningand white oii productiolr areas,thc larger to the cast (approximateiy (Singleton1987). The literatureon the environ- l4ha), and the smaller to thc $'est (approxi- mentalimpact of disposalof acid tar wastcsis mately6 ha) of a major N-S dual-carriageway not large, but studiesof varying extent have trunk road. beencarriecl out in the UK (Singieton1987) at Thenorthern part of thearea west of thctrunk RavenfieldQuarry, South Yorkshirc (Smith & road is Cominatedby an exposedsandstonc b€d- Bromley 1982); Whirehall Road Tips, West dingplanc s1ope, dipping approximately 18" E. It Yorkshire;Hoole Bank, Cheshire;Llwyncinion is likely that this wasexposed by the excavarion Brickworks,near Wrexham,Clwyd. and intcr- of the overlyingclay (weatheredmudstone and nationallyilt Dubova,Clzechosiovakia and Incu- shale)down to thc sandstone.This sandstoneis kalns,Latvia (LatvianGeclogical Survey, pers. refcrredto as the Lorvcr Sandstone.The south- comm.).Extensive investigations havc also been ern part of this western area is covered by carried out at SydncyTar Ponds in Canada, rough pastureanci falls gentlyin a southerlyto although the wasteshere are mainly dcrived southwesterlydirection. from coking processesin the steel industry The areaeast of the trunk road containsthe (EnvironmentCanada 1987-1990, l9S9). mainareas of acidtar. Partof theeastcrn bound- The acici tar wastesat the srudy site were aryof thesite is markcd by a smallstream.To the historicallyproduccd by a local lubricaringoil north of the siteare opcn fieldsin uselbr crops manufactuler,using a multi-stagere-reflning and grazing.To the south of the site are lields processto removecontaminants liom uscdoiis. and residcntialhousing. The majority of the sile This proccssirrcluded washing tlre oils with to the eastof the trunk road hasa very uneven concentraterisulphuric acid (Singleton1987). topography,but overallthere is 'fhree a fall from west The tar pits arc also reportedio contain oil- [o east. watcr-filledlakes or 'lagoons' 'southern', saturated clays (Fuller''s Earth) and heavy- (narnedthe 'middle' and 'northern' metal+oniainingfoundry sand wastes, respectively)anci some smailer ponds, occuf Thewastes produced haci vcry a low pH (often eastof thetrunk road.The lagoons were created < l) with up to 30%I-I?SO4. Class compositional by excavationof clay. Betweenthe 'middle' analysisof organiccomponenrs indicated the tar iagoonand the trunk road, sanclstonebedding to consistof around67o/o poiar, tarry iype resins planesare exposed, dipping to theeast at a shal- of vcry high rnolecuiarweigiit, but with a signi- low angle,again believecJ to haveireen exposcd ficant (29o/o)componcnt of saturatecl,high by rernovaiof the overlyingclay. distillate hydrocarfron,possibly derived from In total, l3 acidtar disposalpits are known to weatheringof the tar. Simulatedriistillation ol' haveexisted; ihosc to thewest of thetrunk road Suppliedby TheBritish Library - "Theworld's knowledge" DISPOSALOF ACID TAR WASIES l5) Tabic|.Anult'tit.ulre.rults|ilr,;oilsundwas|e'sfitutttltn|hcs|ud.i.si|t,',4!!uttit.i m il I igr anrs per k i loerwt Type Supposed'clean'scils Bcntonitcfrompits Whire Coritauriuated lrce {ar nrociuct 'Irir,il acid mudstone Trial pit Trial pit pit Trial pii maierial Tnai pit Trialpit Br:rehole P9 at TP3 at TPIi at TPlTar Borehole TP3l ar TP49at 56 at 2.1rl i .8ir 2.2ni 0.8rn S2 -1.i nr 0.0m j.6 nt pH 7.6 6.8 6.0 ).t i.4 5.8 0.8 3.9 CEM o/o 0.08 0.03 19.6 2.69 2.3'7 12.36 t.77 EC 63.3 4s000 Fe 37200 3470 33 28800 Acid sol. 994 697 56600 35.50i) 22! 000 2030 I 3C000 36400 soi- cl- 63.3 <12.5 71.6 20.3 AI r6500 Mn i7t As 27 8 I (b <i <t <t Cr !5 E' 31 Cu 46 54 72 Hg <2 <2 <2 Ni 33 <2 24 Pb 69 46 96 Se <0.5 <0.5 Zn 70 42 697 Co 17 Mo <2 v 54 Phenol 0.6 <c.5 9.6 27.5 t.6 J.q a,L l9.l PAH 26 <10 442 636 267 179 196 t2l0 Min, oil 259000 r8400 174