Event
ChBE Seminar Series: David S. Kosson
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
11:00 a.m.
Room 2108, Chemical and Nuclear Engineering Building
Dongxia Liu
liud@umd.edu
David S. Kosson
Professor, Director of CRESP
Vanderbilt University
The Leaching Environmental Assessment Framework (LEAF) for Evaluating Waste Disposal and Use of Secondary Materials
The Leaching Evaluation Assessment Framework (LEAF) is a set of leaching test methods, data management tools, evolving coupled chemical speciation-based mass transport models, and a decision framework. The goal of LEAF is to establish a tiered approach to leach testing and assessment that provides a common basis for estimating source terms for constituent leaching for a wide range of materials, engineered uses and disposal, and location-specific scenarios. Joint, coordinated development and adoption of LEAF is occurring in the United States in conjunction with US EPA and the European Union, as well as several other countries.
When used as a screening tool, a decision framework has been developed that considers the system design (e.g., coal fly ash incorporation into concrete, use as road base, etc.) and accounts for the regional location. Leaching test results can also be used to develop a chemical speciation model of the material that then can be used in percolation and diffusion mass transfer models to evaluate beneficial use and disposal scenarios. Several models have been matured and incorporated in LeachXS as a software tool to facilitate evaluations considering multiple scenarios. In addition, compilations of material specific data sets, laboratory-to-field comparisons, and scenario models are being accomplished through USEPA and Department of Energy supported projects focused on management of coal combustion residues, contaminated site remediation, durability of cementitious materials, and nuclear waste management.
Professor Kosson is a Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Engineering at Vanderbilt University, where he has appointments as Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Chemical Engineering and Earth and Environmental Sciences. Prof. Kosson has been the leading the research group at Vanderbilt University responsible for the development of LEAF in conjunction with US EPA. He leads the multi-university Consortium for Risk Evaluation with Stakeholder Evaluation (www.CRESP.org), supported by the Department of Energy to assist with improving the remediation of sites formerly used for the production of defense nuclear materials and the management of nuclear wastes from energy production. Professor Kosson is the Principal Investigator for the Vanderbilt – Sterling Ranch Test Bed Partnership focused on energy, water and quality-of-life sustainability and resilience research a part of a new build community to be home for 45,000 residents in Colorado. Professor Kosson’s research focuses on energy and water sustainability, management of nuclear, energy production and industrial wastes, including process development and contaminant mass transfer applied to groundwater, soil, sediment, waste and cementitious materials systems. He received his Ph.D. in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering from Rutgers University, where he subsequently was Professor of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering.
