DCT techniques vs incineration for remediation of soils contaminated by diesel and salts

The objective of the present research is to determine the optimum parameters for obtaining a high efficiency of the treatment of electrochemical remediation, in order to remediate a soil contamination by organic compounds and salts. The obtained results are planned to be adopted for a comparative analysis with the option of incineration. An electrochemical remediation method using a constant current, instead of constant voltage, was evaluated for its ability of remediating such contamination. The impacts of five factors including initial total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) concentration, conductivity, salinity, soil type, moisture was assessed. The major impact comes from conductivity that establish the possibility to apply the electrochemical treatment under constant current. The obtained data are suitable for the development of an energy balance of this approach and are planned to be used for a comparison with an alternative option of remediation: incineration. The main goal of incineration is to heat the contaminated media to temperatures between 870 and 1,200\ub0C, volatilizing and burning the organic compounds. The full comparison will be made in a future paper; in this paper preliminary considerations are presented

Punti di forza e di debolezza per la bonifica dei terreni inquinati di contaminanti organici utilizzando un trattamento a base di campo elettrico

L'idea del presente articolo nasce dai limiti riscontrati durante l'esecuzione di una ricerca sperimentale basata sull'applicazione del trattamento elettrochimico di idrocarburi in suolo inquinato. L\u2019articolo \ue8 stato focalizzato sulle limitazioni fisiche, chimiche ed economiche di questo metodo di bonifica. E\u2019 stato sviluppato anche un confronto tra gli aspetti problematici individuati quando lo studio di laboratorio \ue8 stato spostato in campo. La presente ricerca si \ue8 concentrata solo sugli inquinanti organici, in particolare sugli idrocarburi risultati dalla contaminazione da prodotti petroliferi. Il principale obiettivo di questo studio \ue8 evidenziare i punti di forza e debolezza di questo tipo di trattamento, sulla base della ricerca svolta e anche sui dati gi\ue0 esistenti in letteratura. Inoltre, alcune soluzioni sono state offerte per migliorare il successo del metodo applicato come opzione per la rimozione di prodotti petroliferi da siti contaminati. Durante la ricerca sono stati monitorati i seguenti parametri: corrente, pH, potenziale redox, temperatura e conducibilit\ue0. Per quanto riguarda la contaminazione organica, il comportamento di questi parametri ha avuto un'influenza importante sull'efficienza del trattamento

Removal of Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons from Contaminated Soils by Electrochemical Method

Soil contamination phenomena are a wide world issue that has received the important attention in the last decades. The main pollutants that have affected soils are especially those resulted from the oil extraction, transport and processing. This paper presents results obtained in the framework of a research project focused on the management of contaminated sites with petroleum products/ REMPET. One of the specific objectives of the REMPET project was to assess the electrochemical treatment (improved with polarity change respect to the typical approach) as a treatment option for the remediation of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs) from contaminated soils. Petroleum hydrocarbon compounds attach to soil components and are difficult to remove and degrade. Electrochemical treatment is a physicochemical treatment that has gained acceptance as an alternative method, for the remediation of organic contaminated soils comparing with the traditional methods as bioremediation and chemical oxidation. This type of treatment need short time and have high removal efficiency, being usually applied in heterogeneous soils with low permeability. During the experimental tests, the following parameters were monitored: pH, redox potential, humidity, current intensity, energy consumption. The electrochemical method was applied in an experimental setup with the next dimensions: 450 mm x 150 mm x 150 mm (L x l x h). The setup length was devised in three electrochemical cells that were connected at two power supplies. The power supplies configuration was provided in such manner that each cell has a cathode and an anode without overlapping. The initial value of TPH concentration in soil was of 1420.28 mg/kgdw. The remediation method has been applied for only 21 days, when it was already noticed an average removal efficiency of 31 %, with better results in the anode area respect to the cathode one (33% respect to 27%). The energy consumption registered after the development of the experiment was 10.6 kWh for exterior power supply and 16.1 kWh for the interior one. Taking into account that at national level, the most used methods for soil remediation are bioremediation (which needs too much time to be implemented and depends on many factors) and thermal desorption (which involves high costs in order to be implemented), the study of electrochemical treatment will give an alternative to these two methods (and their limitations)