Abstract:
The utilization or secondary use of technogenic waste is a relevant problem for the current
economy. To assess the environmental influence and economic potential, it is necessary to
study the elemental content of technogenic objects and to reveal the tendencies of the spatial distribution of elements, components, and indices such as the pollution coefficient. In
this study, we performed elemental analysis, and calculation of indicators: average gross
content, hazard quotients, concentration coefficients of metals, and total pollution coefficients of ground samples taken from the ash-slag storage of the Aksu ferroalloy plant [Aksu,
Pavlodar region, Kazakhstan]. Maps of the spatial distribution of concentrations of elements
and total pollution coefficients were created. The territory of the studied ash-slag storage by
the level of soil contamination should be considered as an environmental disaster zone. The
given statistical data on the number of oncological and respiratory diseases indirectly indicated the negative influence of open storage of ash-slag waste. The studied ground was of
chromium-manganese geochemical specialization. The calculated volume of the accumulated waste mass by the approximating method was 1 054 638.0 m3
. The calculated approximate weight of the accumulated waste was 23 679 576.0864 tons, including 1 822 972.2
tons of chromium, 1 727 354.0 tons of manganese, and 953 813.3 tons of iron. The large
amounts of valuable components retained in the waste mass led us to conclude that the
studied technogenic object can be considered as a secondary field to produce various technological products. Moreover, valuable metals can be extracted as metal concentrates.
