In-situ treatment of surfactant-contaminated soil by electrochemical methods

Conference · Sun Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1995

OSTI ID:210493

Huang, C P; Takiyama, L R; Chu, C S ^[1]

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1. Univ. of Delaware, Newark, DE (United States)

Laboratory scale experiments were performed to investigate the feasibility of removing a surfactant - ammonium perfluoro-octanoate - from a contaminated soil. in this study, two separate electrochemical-related methods were explored. First, electro-kinetic remediation technique was employed as s tool to transport the surfactant out of the contaminated soil. The method relies in applying an external voltage between electrodes (cathode and anode) inserted in the soil medium to induce the water movement towards the negatively charged electrode (cathode) and enhance the transport of the contaminant Under the conditions tested, a 97 % removal was achieved. The second step taken was to destroy the target compound in solution by indirect oxidation process. The method involves the generation of hydrogen peroxide by reduction of dissolved molecular oxygen in aqueous solution at the cathode electrode. In the presence of ferrous ions, hydrogen peroxide reacts producing hydroxyl radicals. This reaction is well known as Fenton`s Reagent. Hydroxyl radicals are strong oxidizing agents and are able to oxidize a variety of organic compounds. The results demonstrated that indirect oxidation process could reduce the surfactant concentrations from 50, 30, 20, and 10 ppm to 1 ppm in 30 minutes of electrolysis at low pH conditions.

• OSTI ID: 210493
• Report Number(s): CONF-9509139--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AMMONIUM COMPOUNDS
DECONTAMINATION
ELECTROPHORESIS
OXIDATION
SOILS
SURFACTANTS