US EPA

1251058 

Journal Article 

Application of a CCA-treated wood waste decontamination process to other copper-based preservative-treated wood after disposal 

Janin, A; Coudert, L; Riche, P; Mercier, G; Cooper, P; Blais, JF 

2011 

Yes 

Journal of Hazardous Materials
ISSN: 0304-3894
EISSN: 1873-3336 

186 

2-3 

1880-1887 

English 

21216528 

10.1016/j.jhazmat.2010.12.094 

WOS:000288344000120 

Chromated copper arsenate (CCA)-treated wood was widely used until 2004 for residential and industrial applications. Since 2004, CCA was replaced by alternative copper preservatives such as alkaline copper quaternary (ACQ), copper azole (CA) and micronized copper quaternary (MCQ), for residential applications due to health concerns. Treated wood waste disposal is becoming an issue. Previous studies identified a chemical process for decontaminating CCA-treated wood waste based on sulfuric acid leaching. The potential application of this process to wood treated with the copper-based preservatives (alkaline copper quaternary (ACQ), copper azole (CA) and micronized copper quaternary (MCQ)) is investigated here. Three consecutive leaching steps with 0.1 M sulfuric acid at 75°C for 2 h were successful for all the types of treated wood and achieved more than 98% copper solubilisation. The different acidic leachates produced were successively treated by coagulation using ferric chloride and precipitation (pH=7) using sodium hydroxide. Between 94 and 99% of copper in leachates could be recovered by electrodeposition after 90 min using 2 A electrical current. Thus, the process previously developed for CCA-treated wood waste decontamination could be efficiently applied for CA-, ACQ- or MCQ-treated wood. 

Copper; CCA-treated wood; CA-treated wood; MCQ-treated wood; ACQ-treated wood; Acid leaching; Precipitation; Electrodeposition