Utilization of Lignin Degradation Compounds to Determine Groudnwater Contamination from a Pulp and Paper Mill Industry, 1997 Environmental Conference Proceedings

A Midwestern pulp and paper mill had operated a captive landfill in a former coal strip mining pit for a number of years. The benign nature of the landfilled waste and the complex chemistry associated with groundwater from strip mine spoils made it challenging to differentiate between potential impacts from the two sources in groundwater and surface seeps at the site. Development of a concise and accurate method to clearly distinguish between these two sources had historically been difficult to achieve. A set of specific chemical markers (lignin degradation products) were identified in pulping waste. The lignin degradation products would not be present in groundwater associated with mine spoils. An analytical method was developed to determine these markers at extremely low concentrations (0.05 to 0.5 µg/L) in water. Testing was completed on pulping waste, groundwater, and surface seep samples. These data were used to predict the mobility of the landfilled waste components. As a result, it became possible to differentiate the potential influence of landfilling activities from strip mining spoils activity.