Soil washing and biotreatment of petroleum-contaminated soils
- Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ., Blacksburg, VA (United States). Dept. of Civil Engineering
Soil washing was evaluated in combination with biological treatment as a decontamination technology for petroleum-contaminated soils. The bench-scale soil washing system utilized to clean the soils also fractionated the bulk soil into sand, silt, and clay fractions. With tap water as the carrier, the petroleum removal efficiencies varied from 44% to 55% for three soils. The postwash hydrocarbon levels were in the range of 145--905 mg/kg for sands, 2,000--5,000 mg/kg for silts, and greater than 14,000 mg/kg for clays. Biological degradation was evaluated as a secondary treatment to reduce the contaminated levels on each fraction to desired levels. Simulated composting lowered hydrocarbon levels on sands to below 50 mg/kg. Slurry treatment of silt and clay fractions reduced hydrocarbon levels to near 100 mg/kg for silt and in the range of 500 to 1,000 mg/kg for clays. It was found that composting and slurry treatment effectively met the suggested target-treatment level of 100 mg/kg for the sand and silt fractions. For the clays, slow desorption of the hydrocarbons and long treatment periods made slurry treatment an uneconomical alternative.
- OSTI ID:
- 7164220
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Environmental Engineering (New York); (United States), Vol. 120:5; ISSN 0733-9372
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Technology evaluation report: Biotrol Soil Washing System for treatment of a wood-preserving site. Volume 1
GRI accelerated biotreatability protocol for assessing conventional bilogical treatment of soils: Development and evaluation using soils from manufactured gas plant sites. Topical report, June 1988-December 1992