Investigation of the emission and leaching behavior of characteristic heavy metals in sintered bricks prepared from oil-based drill cutting residues

Oil-based drill cutting residues (OBDCR) are hazardous waste generated by the thermal desorption of oil-based drill cuttings. Recently, the utilization of OBDCR as building materials has attracted extensive attention, but the environmental risks during preparation and long-term usage remained unclear. In this study, OBDCR with a 40 % (wt./wt.) mixing ratio was used to prepare sintered bricks, and the emission and leaching behaviors of Ba, Mn, Zn, Ni, Cr, and Pb were investigated. The results indicated that the addition of OBDCR in bricks showed insignificant increase in the emission of Ba, Mn, Zn, Ni, and Cr, whereas the emission of Pb slight decreased from 10.5 to 8.6 μg/m³. The volatilization rates of these heavy metals were considerably low, with Ni showed the highest volatilization rate of only 1.45 % in OBDCR bricks. Moreover, the leaching behavior of Ba, Mn, Zn, Ni, Cr, and Pb in bricks were studied. The results indicated that surface wash-off was the main controlling leaching mechanism of Ba and Cr, whereas the leaching of Mn, Zn, Ni, and Pb was controlled by diffusion. The Elovich and second-order kinetic equation were identified as the leaching models for Mn, Zn, Pb, and Ni. The life-time leaching predictions of OBDCR bricks indicated that the leaching of Ni and Mn after 10 and 20 years of leaching were 0.1529, 0.257, 0.1530, and 0.274 mg/L, respectively, exceeding the relevant standards. Therefore, the leaching risks of Ni and Mn should be emphasized when using OBDCR bricks with a 40 % OBDCR mixing ratio.