Most of the slags generated from steel-making industry in Korea are recycled into media-contact aggregates such as fill and cover materials. For their use as media-contact aggregates, the slags must meet not only the waste quality criteria, but also the Daphnia magna acute toxicity test criteria. In this study, Korean Leaching Test ES 06150.e (Korea), Japanese Leaching Test JIS K 0058-1(Japan), Detuch Leaching Test DIN 19529 (Germany), Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (USA) were conducted for batch leaching test of slags from 6 Korean steel-making companies. In addition, Korean Standard up-flow percolation test (ES 06151.1) mimicking field conditions was conducted to assess the impact of the slag leachate on the surrounding environment indirectly. Heavy metals such as Cr⁶⁺ and Zn²⁺ were detected from both extractant and leachate samples, but all of them did not exceed waste quality criteria of each country. However, Daphnia magna acute toxicity tests using the leachate samples from up-flow percolation test with slag alone and slag/natural soil conditions exceeded ecotoxicity standard (TU=2) due to their high pH (11.3-12.5). After neutralizing the pH of the slag leachate to 6.5~8.5, the Daphnia magna mortality and immobilization were reduced to satisfy ecotoxicity standard. As the reducing pH of slag leachate would be extremely difficult, appropriate recycling management considering the physicochemical characteristics of he slags should be stuided further.

Keywords: steel-making slag, leaching test, toxicity test, media-contact recycling