DOI: 10.5061/dryad.d51c5b09k
title: Carbon capture potential and environmental impact of concrete weathering in soil

description: The enhanced weathering of concrete in soil has potential to capture
 atmospheric CO2. The objective of this research was to conduct a
 laboratory experiment and evaluate the environmental impacts and carbon
 capture potential of concrete as an enhanced weathering material in soil.
 A column study was conducted with four treatments comprised of: 1)
 100 % soil (S treatment), 2) 90 % soil and 10 %
 concrete by weight of 0.25–0.71 mm diameter fragments
 (S + Cfine treatment), 3) 90 % soil
 and 10 % concrete by weight of 8–25 mm diameter
 fragments (S + Ccoarse treatment), and 4)
 100 % concrete composed of 8–25 mm diameter fragments (C
 treatment). Deionized water was added to the columns for
 16 weeks. The S + Cfine treatment
 experienced a significant increase in soil pH
 (8.0 ± 0.07) compared to the S
 (6.9 ± 0.22) and
 S + Ccoarse (7.1 ± 0.08)
 treatments. The C treatment experienced a significant increase in leachate
 pH. Leachate NO3− concentrations in the
 S + Cfine (33 ± 18 mg L−1) samples were significantly greater than those in other treatments. Soil microbial community concentrations were significantly less in the S + Cfine treatment. The S + Cfine treatment had a calculated average HCO3− concentration of 350 ± 120 mg L−1 which was significantly greater than the S (230 ± 100 mg L−1), C (270 ± 170 mg L−1), and S + Ccoarse (260 ± 50 mg L−1) treatments. Increased concentrations of Ca2+, SO42−, H4SiO4, and HCO3− in the mixed concrete and soil samples are evidence that chemical reactions occurred due to the soil-concrete interaction and are likely capturing atmospheric CO2.
description: # Carbon Capture Potential and Environmental Impact of Concrete Weathering
 in Soil
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.d51c5b09k](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.d51c5b09k) Soil and leachate chemical and biological data from the research article Carbon Capture Potential and Environmental Impact of Concrete Weathering in Soil. ## Description of the data and file structure Files are independent of each other. Leachate nits are mg/L unless otherwise specified. The sample names are C/S/S+C coarse/S+C fine to distinguish between the different treatments. Samples with "in" or "initial" are values from the initial soil samples before the experiment. | Variable | description | | :--------------------------------------------------------------------- | :----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | C1-C4 (referred in some files as just "C") | Concrete only treatment | | S1-S4 (referred in some files as just "S") | Soil only treatment | | S+C coarse1- S+C coarse4 (referred in some files as just "S+C coarse") | Soil and coarse concrete treatment | | S+C fine1- S+C fine4 (referred in some files as just "S+C fine") | Soil and fine concrete treatment | | Total FAMEs | Total fatty acid methyl ester measured in terminal soil samples measued in n mol g-1 | | Protozoa | Total protozoa measured in terminal soil samples measued in n mol g-1 | | Total fungi | Total fungi measured in terminal soil samples measued in n mol g-1 | | Total Bacteria | Total bacteria measured in terminal soil samples measued in n mol g-1 | | soil EC | terminal soil electrical conductivity (dS/m) | | SAR | Sodium adsorption ratio (meq/L) | **Leachate and soil pH and EC** File with 3 different tabs for the leachate pH, terminal soil pH, and terminal soil EC for the different treatments. **Leachate Calcium, nitrate, silica, sodium, and sulfate** Files with leachate calcium, nitrate, silica, sodium, and sulfate concentrations in mg/L for the different treatments. Silica concentrations measured as H4SiO4. **Soil Microbial Populations** File with EL-FAME microbial concentrations of terminal soil. Concentrations are in n mol/g and are broken down by microbe type. **Soil SAR** File with calcium, magnesium, and sodium paste concetrations from SAR test as well as the calculated SAR value. Calcium, magnesium, and sodium are in ppm and SAR values are in meq/L. **Soil total nitrogen** File with % nitrogen in the terminal soil samples.