Zhang Wenji’s team from the School of Civil Engineering and Architecture published a research paper in Journal of Cleaner Production, a top journal of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). The title of the paper is “Speciation transformation and release of Cr(VI) in a GGBS-NaOH treated soil under acidic wet-dry cycle: Leaching characteristics and microscopic mechanisms”. Prof. Zhang Wenjie is the first author, Associate Prof. Ji Yuan is the corresponding author, and TU is the first organization.

The paper investigated the leaching characteristics and microscopic mechanisms of Cr in NaOH-excited GGBS cured soil under acidic wet-dry cycle. Specifically, the migration characteristics of Cr were qualitatively evaluated by accelerated leaching test and spatial distribution of Cr content; the morphological transformation of Cr during the W-D cycle was characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and sequential extraction method (SEP); and the leaching mechanism was revealed from the microscopic point of view with the help of scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and mercury-in-pressure (MIP) method. This study can provide theoretical support and basic data for the long-term stability evaluation of Cr(VI) contaminated soil treated with alkaline activated GGBS.

Link to the paper: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2024.142424