Science of the Total Environment 359 (2006) 232 243

www.elsevier.com/locate/scitotenv

Jarosite characteristics and its utilisation potentials

Asokan Pappua,*, Mohini Saxenaa, Shyam R. Asolekarb
a

Regional Research Laboratory (CSIR), Habib Ganj Naka, Bhopal-462026, India

b
CESE, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay-400076, India
Received 22 January 2005; accepted 18 April 2005
Available online 22 June 2005

Abstract
During metallic zinc extraction from zinc sulphide or sulphide ore, huge quantity of jarosite is being released universally as
solid residues. The jarosite mainly contains iron, sulphur, zinc, calcium, lead, cadmium and aluminium. Jarosite released from
such industrial process is complex and its quality and quantity make the task more complex for safe disposal. Apart from water
contamination, jarosite already accumulated and its increasing annual production is a major source of pollution for surrounding
environment including soil, vegetation and aquatic life and hence its disposal leads to major concern because of the stringent
environmental protection regulations.
An attempt was made to evaluate the characteristics of Indian jarosite with an objectives to understand its potentials for
recycling and utilising as raw materials for developing value added products. Sand and Coal Combustion Residues (CCRs) was
used as an admixture to attain good workability and detoxify the toxic substance in the jarosite. Result revealed that jarosite is silty
clay loam in texture having 63.48% silt sized and 32.35% clay sized particles. The particle size of jarosite (D 90 = 16.21 F 0.20 Am)
is finer than the CCRs (D 90 = 19.72 F 0.18 Am). The jarosite is nonuniform in structure and shape as compared to the CCRs having
spherical, hollow shaped and some of them are cenosphere in nature. The major mineral phase of jarosite is Potassium Iron
Sulphate Hydroxide {KFe3(SO4)2(OH)6}and Iron Sulphate Hydrate {2Fe2O3SO3d 5H2O}. In CCRs the dominant phases are
quartz {SiO2}, mullite {3Al2O3d 2SiO2} and hematite {Fe2O3}. The high electrical conductivity of jarosite (13.26 F 0.437 dS/m)
indicates that the presence of cations and anions are predominant over CCRs (0.498 F 0.007 dS/m).
The major portion of jarosite consists of iron (23.66 F 0.18%), sulphur (12.23 F 0.2%) and zinc (8.243 F 0.075%). But
CCRs main constituents are silicon ( 27.41 F 0.74%), aluminium (15.167 F 0.376%) and iron (4.447 F 0.69%). The other
constituents such as calcium, aluminium, silicon, lead, and manganese are also present in the range of 0.5 to 5%. Heavy metals
such as copper, chromium, and cadmium are found higher in jarosite as compared to the CCRs. The statistically designed
experimental trials revealed that the density, water absorption capacity and compressive strength of fired jarosite bricks are 1.51
gm/cm3, 17.46% and 43.4 kg/cm2 respectively with jarosite sand mixture in the ratio of 3 : 1 indicating the potentials in
developing building materials.
D 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Jarosite; Sand; Coal combustion residues; Characterisation; Recycling; Jarosite bricks; Safe management
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 755 2589827 (W), 2488767(H); fax: +91 755 2488323, 2587042.
E-mail address: asokanp3@yahoo.co.in (A. Pappu).
0048-9697/$ - see front matter D 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2005.04.024

A. Pappu et al. / Science of the Total Environment 359 (2006) 232243

1. Introduction
To meet the industrial, domestic and agricultural
demand, newer processes and technologies are being
developed in which huge quantity of solid and hazardous wastes are released as a waste by-product.
Jarosite released during metallic zinc extraction
through hydrometallurgical process is one such example (Asokan, 2003; Leclerc et al., 2003). Presently, ~75% of the worlds zinc metal is produced
hydrometallurgically through acid leaching (Montanaro et al., 2001). Metallic zinc extraction process is
mainly of (a) goethite process (FeOOH), (b) jarosite
process (XFe3(SO4)2(OH6) and Hematite process and
each process has its own advantages and disadvantages (Bhat et al., 1987; Singh, 1996; Ismael and
Carvalho, 2003). The formation of jarosite and its
equilibrium condition is as follows:

3Fe2 SO4 3 X 2SO4 12H2 O$2X Fe3 SO4 2 OH6

6H2 SO4
where X represents H3O+, Na+, K+, NH4+, Ag+, Li, or
1 / 2 Pb2+.
In the jarosite process, an Fe(3+) compound of the
type X [Fe3(SO4)2(OH)6] is precipitated by adding
alkali metal or ammonium ions (Mymrin and Vaamonde, 1999; Hage and Schuiling, 2000; Montanaro
et al., 2001). During these processes huge quantity of
residues in the form of mud is released and stored in
different types of closed containers or sealed reservoirs
in the premises of production unit. In European Union
about 600.000 tonnes of such zinc residues is produced
every year (Romero and Rincon, 1997). The major
quantity of jarosite is generated mainly from Spain,
Holland, Canada, France, Australia, Yugoslavia,
Korea, Mexico, Norway, Finland, Germany, Argentina, Belgium and Japan (Arslan and Arslan, 2003).
Apart from the corrosion and health hazards to
the operator in the tank house due to acid mist
emission in electrowinning of metals, the solid residues produced during metal extraction process
involves major environmental and ecological problem due to their disposal and storage without further
treatment (Alfantazi and Dreisinger, 2003). Safe
management of such hazardous nature of jarosite

233

is of paramount importance and now it has become

a global concern, to find a socio, techno-economic,
environmental friendly solution to protect a clean
and green environment. In hazardous wastes management toxicity/chemical reactivity, corrosive nature and ignitability are the principal characteristics
to be tackled because these constitute the real danger to environment, community health and should
therefore cause us great concern (Asokan et al.,
2003).
The toxicity in the waste is mainly due to the
presence of different metals viz., lead, cadmium,
arsenic, chromium etc. The residue released during
the process could be either recycled for further
processing or sent for safe disposal without affecting
the environment. Now concern is being expressed
by some of European Union Countries regarding the
environmental danger in avoidance of pollution for
safe storage and disposal of these residues. Efforts
are also being made to recover valuable elements/
value added material and to transform them into
other forms less harmful to the environment
(Romero and Rincon, 1997). Various remedial measures have also been proposed to recycle these
wastes as construction material, catalysts, pigments,
gypsum and refractories (Asokan, 2003; Sanjeev et
al., 1999).
1.1. Jarosite production in India
In India, Hindustan Zinc Limited (HZL) has a
multi-unit mining and smelting organization having
installed capacities of 3.49 million tonnes per year
Zinc manufacturing from four smelters located in
the states of Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and
Orissa. Debari Zinc Smelter plant is one of the
largest units having ammonium jarosite process of
Electrolytic extraction method (Gupta, 1988;
Acharya et al., 1992; Hindustan Zinc Limited web
site, 2003). During Zinc metal extraction process,
Dabari zinc smelter produces ~ 49,000 tonnes per
annum (tpa) of zinc metal and as a consequence
huge quantity of solid wastes/zinc smelter residues
namely jarosite is being released (Singh, 1996;
Raghavan and Upadhyay, 1999) waste. Presently
these wastes have been stored in the premises of
the smelter plant. The presence of toxic species
namely, lead, cadmium and zinc etc. makes this

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A. Pappu et al. / Science of the Total Environment 359 (2006) 232243

waste hazardous and poses serious environmental

problem.
There are several techniques that have been
developed worldwide by several researchers for
remediation of hazardous wastes containing priority
toxic elements. (Lehman, 1982; Barna et al., 1997).
Solidification/stabilisation (s/s) process is one of the
techniques, now, commonly used to inhibit the
transport of heavy pollutant elements into the surrounding environment and offers improvement in
the physical characteristics that reduce the leachability of toxic metals. Earlier work based on the
various extensive research carried out at lab and
pilot scale levels by several researchers all over the
world showed that fly ash can be used in making
cement, concrete, bricks, in back fill/road embankment, adhesives, wall board, agriculture/soil amelioration, wasteland development, wood substitute,
paint and various environmental applications (Martin et al., 1990; Ferraiolo et al., 1990; Keefer, 1993;
Murarka et al., 1993; Sharma and Jain, 1993; Sikka
and Kansal, 1995; Saxena et al., 1998; Tiwari and
Saxena, 1999; Kazuo, 2000; Sumio et al., 2000;
Iyer and Scott, 2001; Sarangi et al., 2001; Asokan,
2003; Saxena and Asokan, 2003; Asokan et al.,
2005). However, some of the studies indicate that
fly ash can be used as partial replacement for Portland
cement to immobilise the toxic effect from solidified
cement fly ash binder (Wang and Vipulanandan, 1996;
Vondruska et al., 2001). Further, the regulatory standards established under the RCRA, recovery of value
added products, hazardous wastes disposal location,
design, construction, operation, final closure of the
landfill site and several other issues were discussed by
various researchers for safe hazardous waste management (Visvanathan, 1996; Saxena and Jotshi, 1996;
Hammitt, 1989; Hazardous wastes resource center
web site, 2003).
However, not much work has been published on
recycling and utilisation of jarosite. Very little work
has been cited on the treatment process for the disposal of these wastes and use in tiles, ceramic products (Mymrin and Vaamonde, 1999; Hage and
Schuiling, 2000). Jarosite seems to be a potential
resource, which has to be recycled in a technically
feasible and environment friendly manner. In the
present work an attempt is made to evaluate the
characteristics of jarosite, its utilisation potential in

developing construction materials using CCRs for

safe and effective management.

2. Materials and method

2.1. Sample collection and processing
In the present study, the solid fine residues,
namely jarosite released during hydrometallurgical
process was obtained from Hindustan Zinc limited
(HZL), Debari Rajasthan, India. CCRs was collected
from Electro Static Precipitator, hopper number four
of Satpura Thermal Power Station, Sarni, Central
India. The samples were air-dried separately, sieved
through 2 mm size sieve and stored in glass container. For characterisation sampling was done from
the air-dried sample adopting conning and quartering method. Fig. 1 (a and b) shows the jarosite of
Debari Zinc Smelter, Rajasthan, India.

(a)

(b)

Fig. 1. (a and b) Jarosite of Debari Zinc Smelter, Rajasthan, India.

A. Pappu et al. / Science of the Total Environment 359 (2006) 232243

2.2. Characterisation of physical and electrochemical

properties
Bulk density and particle density were measured
following Veihmeyer and Hendrickson (1946) method
and porosity by Bodman (1942). Conductivity was
measured by Colonel Conductivity Meter in 1 : 2
(solid : water) ratio soil suspension and the pH values
were determined calorimetrically. The particle size distribution analysis was done using Laser Diffraction
Particle size analyser Model HELOS Laser diffraction
system, Sympatec GMBH, Germany. Total heavy
metals such as Cu, Zn, Mn, As, Se, Cr, Ni, Co, Hg,
Cd, Pb etc., were extracted from the sample by Na2CO3
digestion (Jackson, 1973) method and detected by
Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS), Z5000, Hitachi, Japan with flame, Graphite furnace
and hydride generator facilities.
2.3. Mineralogical and morphological characterisation
The mineralogical studies of the samples were
carried out by X-Ray Diffractometer-PW-1710 Phi-

235

lips, Netherland with Quasar software packages. The

micro structure characteristics was analysed by Scanning Electron Micros scope-Model JOEL JSM-5600,
Japan with Energy Depressives X-ray Spectroscopy
(EDS) analysis facilities.
2.4. Experimental details
A mixture of pure jarosite wastes along with medium textured sand was mixed together at different
ratios (1 : 1 to 4 : 1). To attain the good workability
limited quantity of CCRs (0%, 10%, 20% and 30%)
and water were added on sand jarosite matrix. Table 1
shows the experimental details and quantity/ratio of
different matrixes used in developing s/s products.
The composite matrix was kneaded well till it became
a homogeneous workable state. The tempered matrix
was then used for moulding. The well prepared jarosite CCRs sand matrix was moulded in rectangular
cast iron mould. The mould dimension was
7.5  3.5  3.5 cm. Moulding of the matrix was
done in hand press with a pressure of about 20 kg/
cm2. The casted solidified matrix were then removed

Table 1
Experimental details and composition of different matrices used in developing s/s products
SI.
No.

Jarosite :
sand ratio

Sand
(gm)

Jarosite
(gm)

Jarosite-sand
weight (gm)

CCRs
(gm)

CCRs
(%)

Total weight (gm)

for 5 bricks

Water
(ml)

Experiment 1
1
1:1
2
1:1
3
1:1
4
1:1

500
450
400
350

500
450
400
350

1000
900
800
700

Nil
100
200
300

Nil
10
20
30

1000
1000
1000
1000

220
215
210
200

Experiment 2
5
2:1
6
2:1
7
2:1
8
2:1

333.33
300
266.66
233.33

666.66
600
533.34
466.67

1000
900
800
700

Nil
100
200
300

Nil
10
20
30

1000
1000
1000
1000

260
255
250
250

Experiment 3
9
3:1
10
3:1
11
3:1
12
3:1

250
225
200
175

750
675
600
525

1000
900
800
700

Nil
100
200
300

Nil
10
20
30

1000
1000
1000
1000

255
250
250
250

Experiment 4
13
4:1
14
4:1
15
4:1
16
4:1

200
180
160
140

800
720
640
560

1000
900
800
700

Nil
100
200
300

Nil
10
20
30

1000
1000
1000
1000

265
260
255
255

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A. Pappu et al. / Science of the Total Environment 359 (2006) 232243

Table 2
Physico-chemical properties of jarosite and CCRs
Parameters

Jarosite waste

Sand (%)
Silt (%)
Clay (%)
Texture
Bulk density (gm/cc)
Specific gravity
Porosity (%)
Water holding capacity (%)
Hydraulic conductivity (m/day)
pH
Electrical conductivity (dS/m)

4.23
63.35
32.42
Silty clay
0.982
2.88
66.47
110.13
0.035
6.70
14.090

R1

R2
4.12
63.39
32.49
loam
0.998
2.88
66.87
109.86
0.033
6.80
13.440

CCRs
R3

Mean

SD

R1

R2

R3

Mean

SD

4.18
63.69
32.13

4.18
63.48
32.35

0.06
0.19
0.19

8.5
74.63
16.86

8.58
74.57
16.85

8.44
74.69
16.87

0.18
0.16
0.02

0.971
3.00
67.66
109.89
0.044
6.85
13.260

0.984
2.92
67.00
109.96
0.037
6.78
13.597

0.014
0.07
0.61
0.148
0.006
0.08
0.437

8.24
74.87
16.89
Silt loam
1.050
2.12
38.01
45.50
0.529
7.08
0.498

1.170
2.09
37.04
44.66
0.485
6.98
0.504

1.160
2.16
37.45
44.79
0.499
7.03
0.491

1.127
2.12
37.50
44.98
0.504
7.03
0.498

0.067
0.04
0.49
0.45
0.0225
0.05
0.007

neutral. pH plays an important role in the solubility

of ions. The work carried out by Ding et al. (1998)
showed that the pH of jarosite was highly acidic in
nature (pH 2.7). Almost in all the jarosite based
electrolytic zinc extraction process sulphuric acid
used is as a catalyst in which jarosite begins to
precipitate at pH b 1 and complete at pH 1.5 (Dutrizac, 1980). Further Babcan (1971) showed that
jarosite stability zone is between pH 1 to 3 at 20
and 200 8C. In this process jarosite can theoretically
contain 37% iron and 13% sulfur as sulfate and due
to its physical, chemical, mineralogical, micro structural and thermal characteristic it could be recyclied
in making glass ceramic materials (Mymrin and
Vaamonde, 1999). But the jarosite released from
Debari Smelter, Hindustan Zinc Limited was neu-

from the moulds and allowed to air-dry. After airdrying the solidified product were fired in Muffle
furnace at 950 8C for 90 min. Further, 28th days
compressive strength was tested for the fired s/s products using Shimadzu SERVOPULSER Material
Testing Machine (Compressive Testing Machine)
Model EHF-EG 200 KN-40L, Japan.

3. Results
3.1. Physical and electro-chemical properties
The electro-chemical properties of jarosite and
CCRs are reported in Table 2. Results revealed
that the pH of the jarosite and CCRs was almost
Table 3
Chemical properties of jarosite and CCRs (values are in %)
Elements

Iron
Sulphur
Zinc
Calcium
Aluminium
Silicon
Lead
Nitrogen
Magnesium
Sodium
Potassium
Carbon
Manganese

Jarosite waste

CCRs

R1

R2

R3

Mean

SD

R1

R2

R3

Mean

SD

23.480
12.030
8.170
4.830
3.580
3.370
1.890
1.455
1.090
0.670
0.620
0.142
0.195

23.480
12.430
8.320
4.860
3.650
3.430
1.890
1.399
1.110
0.680
0.620
0.172
0.197

23.660
12.230
8.240
4.840
3.610
3.400
1.930
1.487
1.100
0.675
0.610
0.151
0.199

23.660
12.230
8.243
4.843
3.613
3.400
1.903
1.447
1.100
0.675
0.617
0.155
0.197

0.180
0.200
0.075
0.015
0.035
0.030
0.023
0.045
0.010
0.005
0.006
0.0154
0.002

5.140
0.780
0.004
1.020
14.750
26.670
0.003
0.172
0.680
0.940
1.770
1.45
0.050

3.760
0.096
0.004
0.960
15.270
28.150
0.004
0.181
0.640
1.150
1.610
1.62
0.050

4.440
0.098
0.004
0.950
15.480
27.420
0.004
0.174
0.590
1.230
1.730
1.94
0.050

4.447
0.325
0.004
0.977
15.167
27.413
0.004
0.176
0.637
1.107
1.703
1.67
0.05

0.690
0.394
0.000
0.038
0.376
0.740
0.000
0.005
0.045
0.150
0.083
0.25
0.05

A. Pappu et al. / Science of the Total Environment 359 (2006) 232243

tralised using lime and hence the pH was just below

neutral (pH 6.78 F 0.8).
The Electrical Conductivity (EC) of jarosite was
13.597 F 0.437 dS/m. But CCRs was invariably low
EC (0.498 dS/m). It indicates that the presence of
both anions and cations are predominant in jarosite.
As per the international soil classification, the texture of jarosite is silty clay loam and CCRs lies
under silt loam.
The characteristic of homogenized jarosite waste
reported by Romero and Rincon (1997) showed moisture content between 4447% and a mean density of
3.77 g/cm3. The present study showed that the mean
specific gravity of jarosite was 2.92 and CCRs was
relatively higher bulk density and lower specific gravity. As compared to CCRs, the jarosite has higher
porosity and water holding capacity due to fine textured
materials resulting from high surface area (1600 cm2/
gm). Interestingly the hydraulic conductivity of jarosite
was 0.037 F 0.006 m/day and which is lower than that
of CCRs. This is obvious because 90% of the CCRs
particles were 19.72 F 0.18 Am as against 16.21 F 0.2
Am size of jarosite. It is further supported by the earlier
work where the mean size (D 80).of the zinc residues
particle was 23 Am having various trace elements and
heavy metals (Romero and Rincon, 1997).

237

(a)

(b)

3.2. Chemical properties

In hydrometallurgical process, during roasting, the
formation of zinc ferrite from zinc sulphate concentrates leads to considerable loss of zinc (Bhat et al.,
1987). In the present study the total contents of heavy
metals were analysed to confirm their environmental
significance for safe disposal. The results revealed
that major constituents of the jarosite were iron, sulphur, and zinc. However, various other elements such

(c)

Table 4
Trace and heavy metal content in jarosite and CCRs
Parameters Jarosite wastes
R1

R2

R3

CCRs
Mean SD R1

R2

R3

Copper
1015 1050 1065 1043 25.7 88.6 87.7 86.1
Nickel
98 76 88 87 11.0 102.4 104 99.2
Chromium 190 195 150 178 24.7 91.8 90.2 88.4
Cadmium 290 326 335 317 23.8 38.4 37.2 39.1
Cobalt
46 35 32 38 7.4 58.9 59.9 58.5

All the values are expressed in ppm.

Mean SD
87
102
90
38
59

1.3
2.4
1.7
1.0
0.7

Fig. 2. (a) SEM microstructure of jarosite particles showing irregular shape. (b) SEM microstructure of CCRs showing spherical and
cenosphere particles. (c) SEM microstructure of sand showing
angular shape with solid structure.

238

A. Pappu et al. / Science of the Total Environment 359 (2006) 232243

10000
[ counts ]

8100
P Potassium Iron Sulphate Hydroxide- KFe3(SO4)2(OH)6
I Iron Sulphate Hydrate- 2Fe2O3SO3 5H2O

6400
4900
3600
2500

1600
P

I
P I

900
P

400

P
I

100
0
0

20

40

60

Fig. 3. X-Ray diffractogram of jarosite showing phase constituents.

CCRs except Ni and Co. As per the Hazardous

Waste (Management and Handling) Amendment
Rules, 2003, the primary or secondary production
of Zn including jarosite is categorized as hazardous
wastes (Ministry of Environment and Forest website,
2003). Further, the concentration of cadmium (50
mg/kg), lead (5000 mg/kg), zinc (20,000 mg/kg)
and sulphur (50,000 mg/kg) were exceeded the
above regulatory limits of Schedule 2 of rule 3
(14) b of Class A, B, C and D (Ministry of Envi-

as Al, Pb, Mg, Na, K, Mn etc., were also present in

jarosite (Table 3). Similar results were reported by
earlier researchers that the fine particles of zinc residues contain various elements such as Fe-, Zn, Pb, Si,
Ca, Cu, K, Ti, Sn and Al (Hage and Schuiling, 2000;
Bhat et al., 1987).
The heavy metals content such as Cu, Ni, Cd, Cr,
and Co in jarosite and CCRs is shown in Table 4 and
it is revealed that the concentration of these metals
ions were higher in jarosite as compared to the
4900
[ counts ]

3600

Q
Q - Quartz SiO2
M Mullite 3Al2O3 2SiO2
H Hematite Fe2O3
A Amorphous (Glassy phase)

2500
1600
M

900
Q

400

A
M

H
M

100
0
0

20

40

Fig. 4. X-Ray diffractogram of CCRs showing phase constituents.

60

A. Pappu et al. / Science of the Total Environment 359 (2006) 232243

ronment and Forest website, 2003). The present

study further confirmed that, based on the characteristics, as per the US Regulatory frame work, jarosites
released from hydrometallurgical process of HZL,
Debari India is hazardous in nature.

239

(a)

3.3. Morphological and mineralogical studies

The microstructure analysis of jarosite reveals that
most of the particles are irregular in shape with
multiple humps. Fig. 2 (a, b, and c) shows the
microstructure of jarosite, CCRs and sand respectively. It reveals from the results that most of the
jarosite particles surface is smooth and irregular in
shape. CCRs particles are almost regular in shape
and most of them are spherical and some of them are
cenospheric in nature. However, the microstructure
of medium textured sand showed crystal structure,
angular shape and solid state. Figs. 3 and 4 shows
the phase constituents of jarosite and CCRs respectively. The typical X-ray diffractogram of jarosite
indicates that the major mineral phase in jarosite is
(KFe3(SO4)2(OH)6 and Iron sulphate hydrate
(2Fe2O3SO35H2O). But in CCRs, the major phase
is Quartz and mullite (Aluminium silicate). It also
shows the presence of iron oxide (Hematite).

4. Discussion
The jarosite was s/s with the bulking agent CCRs
and sand and produced solid structure. Fig. 5 (a and b)
shows solidified products before firing and after firing.
Keeping in view of potential application of these s/s
products as building construction materials, the density, water absorption and compressive strength of the
solidified fired products developed from jarosite were
assessed. The density of solidified matrix/products
using different ratios of jarosite waste is shown in
Fig. 6. It is apparent from the results that increase in
concentration of jarosite waste decreased the density,
which is obvious because the density of jarosite is very
low. Further by increasing CCRs concentration as a
partial substitute for sand the density decreased as
compared to the jarosite and sand alone. Moreover,
the unfired and fired s/s products are smooth in surface. It shows the potentiality in using it for light
weight applications in the construction sector. The

(b)

Fig. 5. (a) Unfired jarosite s/s products. (b) Fired jarosite s/s products.

water absorption capacity of the s/s products varies

from 16.727.2% and with application of CCRs the
water absorption capacity increased due to the morphological properties (Fig. 7). But minimum water
absorption was obtained when 50% jarosite was
used. Also it is expected that during firing process at
950 8C under solid state reaction, the toxic substance/
elements were to be detoxified/immobilised through
complexing in silicate matrix. The studies carried out
on s/s of toxic metal wastes using coke and coal
combustion by-products revealed that alkaline wastes
could retain low concentration of toxic metal ions and
solidification and sorption of metals were significant
due to the presence of CaO and CaSO4 in CCRs
(Vempati et al., 1995).
The effect of jarosite waste, CCRs and sand on the
compressive strength of s/s products are shown in Table
5. The stress stroke curve indicates that maximum
compressive strength of the fired s/s products was
found optimum (43.4 kg/cm2) when jarosite was used
three times of the total mass (Fig. 8). However, CCRs
substitution did not show any positive impact in terms

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A. Pappu et al. / Science of the Total Environment 359 (2006) 232243

1.64

1.60
0

10

20

30 CCRs (%)

Density (gm / cm3)

1.56

1.52

1.48

1.44

1.40
0

Jarosite: Sand

Fig. 6. Effect of jarosite, sand and CCRs on density of fired solidified products.

29.00

27.00

Water absorption capacity (%)

10

20

30 CCRs (%)

25.00

23.00

21.00

19.00

17.00

15.00
0

3
Jarosite : Sand

Fig. 7. Effect of jarosite, sand and CCRs on water absorption capacity of fired solidified products.

A. Pappu et al. / Science of the Total Environment 359 (2006) 232243

of increase in strength of the s/s products. Earlier study

showed that when CCRs was substituted as portland
cement, strength was maintained at constant level and it
increased when active silica was higher than that of
cement (Papadakis, 2000). The work carried out by
Constantino et al. (2001) and Jang and Kim (2000)
showed that CCRs can be used as raw materials and
main binder for s/s of electric arc furnace dust and mine
wastes containing hazardous metals such as Pb, Cd, Cr,
Zn and Cu and confirmed that the leachate/mobility of
heavy metal pollutant is pH dependent. In the present
study, jarosite pH was just below neutral (pH = 6.78)
and hence the concentration of toxic elements such as
Zn, Cd, Pb, Cr etc., might probably stabilise with
CCRs-jarosite matrix. The fixation of toxic elements
in this process can reduce the contamination potential
of jarosite. The work carried out earlier by Montanaro
et al. (2001) showed that at high temperature, the heavy
metal oxide contents in the densified products become
low soluble crystalline phase or glassy phase. This
could help to reduce the heavy metal leaching. The
specific surface area of jarosite powder has significant
effect on the compacting behaviour and kinetics of

241

Fig. 8. Stress stroke curve indicating the breaking load of the fired
solidified jarosite sand (3 :1) products.

firing oxidation of powder by atmospheric oxygen

(Hewaidy et al., 1979). For supporting this hypothesis
and confidence building further studies on leachability
of toxic elements from the solidified products are need
to be assessed to use these fired s/s products in environmental friendly applications in construction industries and the outcome of the research is expected to be
one of the major solution for safely recycling the
hazardous jarosite.

Table 5
Effect of jarosite, sand and CCRs on compressive strength of fired solidified products
SI. No.

Experiments

Jarosite : Sand

CCRs (%)

Compressive strength kg/cm2

R1

R2

R3

Mean

SD

Nil
10
20
30

10.99
9.10
23.21
10.87

9.79
9.42
22.83
11.29

10.99
9.16
22.57
11.29

10.59
9.23
22.87
11.15

0.69
0.17
0.32
0.24

2:1
2:1
2:1
2:1

Nil
10
20
30

26.76
15.07
11.55
10.57

26.69
14.42
11.93
11.68

26.42
14.31
11.67
11.02

26.62
14.60
11.72
11.09

0.18
0.41
0.19
0.56

T1
T2
T3
T4

3:1
3:1
3:1
3:1

Nil
10
20
30

42.86
15.35
11.3
12.04

43.52
13.87
11.8
12.72

43.81
14.24
12.61
12.42

43.40
14.49
11.90
12.39

0.49
0.77
0.66
0.34

T1
T2
T3
T4

4:1
4:1
4:1
4:1

Nil
10
20
30

14.12
9.26
10.08
10.37

14.32
9.82
9.56
9.94

14.55
9.65
10.17
9.91

14.33
9.58
9.94
10.07

0.22
0.29
0.33
0.26

Experiment 1
1
2
3
4

T1
T2
T3
T4

1:1
1:1
1:1
1:1

Experiment 2
5
6
7
8

T1
T2
T3
T4

Experiment 3
9
10
11
12
Experiment 4
13
14
15
16

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A. Pappu et al. / Science of the Total Environment 359 (2006) 232243

5. Conclusion
Jarosite wastes generated from the hydrometallurgical process contain significant quantity of compounds
of iron, zinc, sulphur, lead, cadmium, manganese etc.
The presence of toxic substances make these wastes
hazardous and possess serious problem for their disposal. However, due to weathering/bacterial action
there is a release of toxic elements in soluble form
which ultimately contaminate the soil, ground water
and aquatic life due to improper management of such
hazardous wastes. Work carried out by various
researchers so far focused primarily on the recovery
of zinc from the process wastes, leaching of toxic
metals and utilisation of zinc wastes in glass ceramic
products. The result revealed from the present study
that the compressive strength of s/s products reached
43.4 kg/cm2 at 3 : 1 ratio of jarosite sand mixture in
which the water absorption capacity and density was
17.46% and 1.51 gm/cm3 respectively. This is also
confirming the quality as per the Indian standard specification (IS 2248:1992) for its use in construction
sector. Further the physico-chemical characterisation
indicates that there is a utilisation potential as building
materials like bricks, blocks, cement, tiles, composites.
Acknowledgement
Authors are thankful to Dr. N. Ramakrishnan, Director, Regional Research Laboratory Bhopal, India
for the permission to publish this paper. Authors are
also grateful to the officials of Debari Smelter, HZL,
Rajasthan and Satpura Thermal Power Station, Sarni,
Madhya Pradesh for the support in providing samples
and Shri S.P.Singh Chauhan, Former Director, Statistics and Economic Department, Madhya Pradesh,
India for fruitful discussion and correction of the
manuscript.
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