Standards Development

Scope

This document in the series specifies a compliance test providing information on leaching of granular waste materials, sludges, soil, soil-like materials and sediments under the experimental conditions specified hereafter, and particularly a liquid to solid ratio of 2 L/kg dry matter in a first step and subsequently of 8 L/kg dry matter in a second step. It applies to materials which have a particle size below 4 mm without or with size reduction.

This document has been developed to investigate the leaching of inorganic and non-volatile organic substances from granular waste materials, sludges, soil, soil-like materials and sediments. It does not take into account the consequences of microbiological processes in organic degradable materials. The test procedure specified in this document produces an eluate which sha

ll subsequently be characterised physically and chemically according to appropriate standard methods. This document includes two different procedures for eluate preparation prior to analysis, one procedure for non-volatile organic substances, inorganic substances and DOC and one for inorganic substances and DOC. When assessing only the leaching of inorganic substances and DOC, certain precautions needed when assessing the leaching of organic substances can in some cases be omitted.

This procedure cannot be applied to materials with a water content or such a water affinity that a good mixing of the solid with the predetermined quantity of liquid is not achievable.

This procedure does not apply to materials reacting with the leachant, leading, for example, to excessive gas emission, a solidifying effect or an excessive heat release. In that case, the material can be wetted prior to carrying out the leaching test.

This test cannot be used alone to determine the leaching behaviour of granular waste materials, sludges, soil, soil-like materials and sediments, as specified in EN 12920.

This document does not address issues related to health and safety.

Purpose

The EN 12457-series will be revised and updated based on the 2002-series, in order to be extended to address the leaching of non-volatile organic substances. Validation data are derived from the original validation results for the EN 12457-series and validation data for corresponding fractions of EPA 1316 and validation results for inorganic and organic substances originating from DIN 19529. The revision is done to support the requirements for compliance testing within the EU and EFTA countries.