Remediation of Contaminated Soil with Organic Contaminants using Microemulsion

마이크로이멀젼을 이용한 유기오염물로 오염된 지반의 정화

  • Park, Ki-Hong (Dept. of Civil, Urban & Geosystem Engineering, Seoul National University) ;
  • Kwon, Oh-Jung (Dept. of Civil, Urban & Geosystem Engineering, Seoul National University) ;
  • Park, Jun-Boum (Dept. of Civil, Urban & Geosystem Engineering, Seoul National University)
  • Published : 2003.03.01

Abstract

In the soil washing process, the contaminants are usually removed by abrasion from soil particles using mechanical energy and water However, organic contaminants with low water solubility like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) are remained on soil particles. Previous studies have shown that surfactant possessing amphipathic activity enhances the solubility of organic materials. For this reason solutions with surfactants have been used to improve removal of organic contaminants on soil washing process. But, in this manner, many problems were found like complete loss of surfactants and additional contamination by surfactant. The remediation method using microemulsion has been introduced to overcome these disadvantages. In this case, surfactants are recycled by phase separation of microemulsion after remediation. In microemulsion process, the surfactant will be recycled by phase separation of the microemulsion into a surfactant-rich aqueous phase and an oil phase after extraction. That is why remediation concept applying microemulsion as washing media has been Introduced. Suitable microemulsion have to be used in order to have the chance of refilling the soil after decontamination and to avoid any risk due to toxicity. The purpose of this research is to evaluate effect of microemulsion to remediation of contaminated soil. We performed test with various organic contaminants like Pyrene and BTEX, also compared efficiency of remediation in microemulsion process with soil washing

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