Reusability of sulphide-bearing rock material
In infrastructure and development projects, large amounts of rock and soil masses are handled. The masses that arise in the projects can often be reused on site or in other projects in need of rock material, provided that the material meets the set technical and environmental requirements.
In Sweden's bedrock there are sulphide-bearing rocks and sulfur in the rock is not in itself a problem, but under certain conditions leaching of sulphides can be problematic. Predicting how a rock material will behave has proved difficult and is done today through very varied procedures, which in itself makes it difficult to compare the results. This means that fully functional rock material is sometimes misjudged and goes to landfill, which damages the circular economy and counteracts good resource management.
The purpose of the research is to increase knowledge of geological, mineralogical, geochemical and chemical interacting processes in order to be able to assess the environmental impact and potential environmental risks related to the handling and use of sulphide-bearing rock materials.
The goal is to reduce the amount of rock material that is assessed at landfill after incorrect assessment and to be able to use more material as a resource with a more secure knowledge base. This has great value for the industry as well as society as a whole, as it concerns both the management of natural resources and the national economy.
The expectation is to develop a standardized approach with increased accuracy compared to the varied procedures applied today in the infrastructure sector. By identifying the parameters that cause leaching, methods can be developed to eliminate the interacting effects and thus act as improvement measures. Hopefully, the results of the project can also be useful for the mining industry, which handles large amounts of sulphide-bearing rocks.
The answer lies in understanding cause and effect, this is where research must be given priority in order to produce a correct procedure.
The project is funded by the Swedish Transport Administration and has two main areas. One focus focuses on sampling methodology to identify the conditions in the rock and the other on evaluating the behaviour of a rock material over time and identifying the interacting processes, in order to together generate a prediction model.
Publikations
1.Lina Lindgren (2020) Utvärdering av predikteringsmetoder för sulfidförande berg Med fokus på berg som används i konstruktioner External link.
2.Ida Sundblom (2022) Evaluation of long-term effects of excavated sulfide-bearing rock: - A case study in western Sweden External link.
Lena Alakangas, Cajsa Hägglund och Fredrik Nylen
Contact
Lena Alakangas
- Professor and Head of Subject
- 0920-491396
- lena.alakangas@ltu.se
- Lena Alakangas
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