Effect of leaching temperature and water acidity on the loss of metal elements from CCA treated timber in aquatic conditions. Part 2: Semi-industrial investigation

IRG/WP 95-50040-13

G M F Van Eetvelde, W J Homan, H Militz, M Stevens

In continuation of previous leaching research on the quantification and modelling of metal elements released from CCA treated timber, a series of experiments has been carried out dealing with the influence of temperature and pH of the relative aquatic environment. The leaching method used is the Dutch prestandard for building materials, a long term static leaching test simulating practical bank-shoring situations. Parameters of study are type of fixation, wood species and specimen profiles. With decreasing water temperature, significantly less leaching of copper, chromium and arsenic is observed. An outdoors/indoors temperature ratio of 0.7 could be established. Increasing acidity of the leaching water mainly enhances the release of copper, whereas chromium and arsenic show a minimum leaching tendency at neutral pH. Both conditioning chamber fixation and steam fixation prove to be effective in fixing the metal elements in the wood substrate. With steam fixed timber, however, a higher loss of copper is observed during the early leaching cycles, due to the presence of copper salts on the wood surface. With regard to specimen profiles, boards in comparison with posts demonstrate a remarkable resistance to leaching of active ingredients, presumably due to the different heartwood/sapwood distribution and the specimen dimensions. In conclusion, the observations made confirm the results obtained from previous leaching studies. Converting the emission data into leaching fluxes, a highly correlated double logarithmic flux formula is regarded the best tool for curve fitting, however, for a limited time span. Other models which are more suitable for extrapolation of emitted quantities over a longer period of time are still under investigation. Likewise, proprotional metal ratios versus retention levels highlight the relativity of experimental data obtained with standard emission tests.


Keywords: LEACHING; CCA; TEMPERATURE; pH; FIXATION; EMISSION

Conference: 95-02-06/07 Cannes-Mandelieu, France


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