Cement binders for organic waste

Three cyclic hydrocarbons (benzene, toluene and ortho-xylene (0-xylene)), each of which is a known volatile organic compound(VOC) produced in large quantities by the synthetic chemical manufacturing industry were loaded into Portland cement matrices and stored in a similar organic solvent, o-dichlorobenzene, for two months. The leaching characteristics of these three VOCs were measured using gas chromatography and a flame ionization detector: The objective of this study was to assess the comparative leaching characteristics of these organic contaminants in cement matrices stored in another organic solvent compared with storage in air: The leaching characteristics of benzene, toluene and o-xylene from Portland cement stored in o-dichlorobenzene were compared with reported values for similar organic contaminants loaded into cement matrices that were stored in water: Results indicate that the leaching of benzene, toluene and o-xylene from Portland cement is erroneously high when measured using a weight loss method.