Abstract
Waste foundry sands are invariably contaminated to some extent during the manufacturing of cast alloys. As such the sand is regarded as a hazardous material that requires exceptional precautions for its disposal. Therefore, the study is initiated to identify, quantify and to classify metallic contaminants present in these sands. To achieve these objectives in conjunction with the South African Waste Management Act which plays as the guideline for industrial waste disposal, samples were collected from various South African foundries. In the present study, ten waste sand samples were characterised using XRF, XRD, SEM-EDS and Sulphur analyser. It was found after comparison with a virgin sand used as control or reference sand, that the cast alloy and the moulding additives are the main pollutants present in the waste foundry sand. The additional sulphur and acid potential characterisation, showed that the waste foundry sand has a low potential for sulphuric acid and acid sulphate soil formation when submerged in aquatic medium. The leaching behaviour and the total metallic concentration of the waste was similar to the virgin soil thus their similar classification in the same waste class category.