Laboratory and pilot scale soil washing of PAH and arsenic from a wood preservation site : Changes in concentration and toxicity

• Soil washing of a soil with a mixture of both polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and As was evaluated in laboratory and pilot scale, utilizing both single and mixtures of different additives. The highest level of decontamination was achieved with a combination of 0.213 M of the chelating agent MGDA and 3.2xCMC* of a nonionic, alkyl glucoside surfactant at pH 12 (Ca(OH)2). This combination managed to reach Swedish threshold values within 10 min of treat­ment when performed at elevated temperature (50°C), with initial conta­minant concentrations of As = 105±4 mg/kg and US-EPA PAH16 = 46.0±2.3 mg/kg. The main mechanisms behind the removal were the pH-effect for As and a combina­tion of SOM-ionization as a result of high pH and micellar solu­bilization for PAHs. Implementation of the laboratory results utilizing a pilot scale equipment did not improve the performance, which may be due to the shorter contact time between the washing solution and the particles, or changes in physical characte­ristics of the leaching solution due to the elevated pressure utilized. The ecotox­icological evaluation, Microtox®, demonstrated that all soil washing treatments increased the toxicity of soil leachates, possibly due to in­creased availability of contaminants and toxicity of soil washing solutions to the test organism.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap -- Miljövetenskap (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences -- Environmental Sciences (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Arsenic

Microtox®

PAH

Soil washing

Surfactant

Environmental chemistry

Miljökemi

Enviromental Science

Miljövetenskap

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)