Supercritical extraction of organic contaminants from soil combined with adsorption onto activated carbon

Journal Article · Tue Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 1994 · Environmental Progress; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/ep.670130117· OSTI ID:7031296

Madras, G; Erkey, C; Akgerman, A ^[1]

---

1. Texas A M Univ., College Station, TX (United States)

A novel process is proposed for remediation of soils contaminated with heavy molecular weight organic compounds. In this process, the organics are continuously extracted using supercritical carbon dioxide and then deposited on activated carbon. The feasibility of this process is investigated on a laboratory scale for remediation of soils contaminated with naphthalene, phenanthrene, hexachlorobenzene, and pentachlorophenol. The desorption profiles of the organics from soil and the adsorption isotherms of these organics on activated carbon were determined in the presence of supercritical carbon dioxide using an experimental technique based on frontal analysis chromatography. The desorption profiles from soil indicated that the organics can be completely extracted from soil in a short time. The adsorption isotherms of the organics on carbon indicated that the adsorptive capacity of carbon was very high and approached monolayer coverage. An economic analysis using these results indicated that the proposed process is feasible for soils contaminated with low levels of these organics. 19 refs., 3 figs., 5 tabs.

• OSTI ID: 7031296
• Journal Information: Environmental Progress; (United States), Journal Name: Environmental Progress; (United States) Vol. 13:1; ISSN 0278-4491; ISSN ENVPDI
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540220* -- Environment
Terrestrial-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (1990-)
AROMATICS
BENCH-SCALE EXPERIMENTS
CHLORINATED AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
CONDENSED AROMATICS
EXTRACTION
HALOGENATED AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
HYDROCARBONS
NAPHTHALENE
ORGANIC CHLORINE COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
PHENANTHRENE
REMEDIAL ACTION
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SOILS
SOLVENT EXTRACTION
SUPERCRITICAL GAS EXTRACTION