• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.25-32
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• 2014

The amount of TPH contaminated soil treated at off-site remediation facilities is ever increasing. For the recycle of the treated-soil on farmlands, it is necessary to restore biological and physico-chemical soil characteristics and to remove residual TPH in the soil by an economic polishing treatment method such as phytoremediation. In this study, a series of experiments was performed to select suitable plant species and to devise a proper planting method for the phyto-restoration of TPH-treated soil. Rye (Secale cereale) was selected as test species through a germination test, among 5 other plants. Five 7-day-old rye seedlings were planted in a plastic pot, 20 cm in height and 15 cm in diameter. The pot was filled with TPH-treated soil (residual TPH of 1,118 mg/kg) up to 15 cm, and upper 5 cm was filled with horticulture soil to prevent TPH toxic effects and to act as root growth zone. The planted pot was cultivated in a greenhouse for 38 days along with the control that rye planted in a normal soil and the blank with no plants. After 38 days, the above-ground biomass of rye in the TPH-treated soil was 30.6% less than that in the control, however, the photosynthetic activity of the leaf remained equal on both treatments. Soil DHA (dehydrogenase activity) increased 186 times in the rye treatment compared to 10.8 times in the blank. The gross TPH removal (%) in the planted soil and the blank soil was 34.5% and 18.4%, respectively, resulting in 16.1% increase of net TPH removal. Promotion of microbial activity by root exudate, increase in soil permeability and air ventilation as well as direct uptake and degradation by planted rye may have contributed to the higher TPH removal rate. Therefore, planting rye on the TPH-treated soil with the root growth zone method showed both the potential of restoring biological soil properties and the possibility of residual TPH removal that may allow the recycle of the treated soil to farmlands.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.26-33
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• 2015

Batch experiments were performed to investigate the feasibility of a surfactant-enhanced soil washing process for soils heavily contaminated with crude oil in Kuwait. TPH concentration of the contaminated soil was 223,754 mg/kg, sampled from the bottom of a vaporized oil extraction pond in the Burgan reservoir field. Commercialized eight nonionic surfactants (Tween and Tergitol series) were used to measure the aqueous solubility for the crude oil. Among them, two Tergitol surfactants were used to evaluate the TPH removal efficiency of the surfactant-enhanced soil washing for heavily contaminated Kuwait soil. The solubility of the crude oil in surfactant solution was in the order Tergitol 15-S-7 > Tergitol 15-S-9 > Tergitol 15-S-12 > Tween-80 > Tween-20 > Tween-60, which showed that the crude oil solubilities of the Tergitol series were higher than those of the Tween series. The TPH removal efficiencies of 2% and 5% Tergitol 15-S-9 solution were 59% and 65%, respectively. Because the residual TPH concentration in the washed soil was still higher than the clean-up level (10,000 mg/kg), the soil washing process was repeated five times. After the fifth washing, the residual TPH concentration in the soil went down to 7,680 mg/kg and its removal efficiency was 97%.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2004.09a
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• pp.63-67
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• 2004

A field pilot study on remediation of diesel-contaminated soil by hot air injection/extraction process constructing soil piling system was conducted to evaluate the effects of hot air on the removal of diesel and each constituent. After the heating process of 2 months, the equilibrium temperature of soil reached to 10$0^{\circ}C$ and soil TPH concentration was reduced to about 72% against the initial concentration. Additional extraction process of 2 months induced the continuous extraction of residual diesel and the increment of microbial activity, which made soil TPH concentration reduced to 95%. In addition biological removal of non volatile constituents in diesel was verified indirectly and the removal pattern of each DRO(diesel range organic) as soil temperature was explained.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.59-66
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• 2008

A biological study was conducted to evaluate the enhancement of landfarming of soil contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) applying organic composite nutrients and a chemical oxidation during bioremediation. The target value of soil TPH after treatment was 500 mg/kg TPH. Addition of an organic compost and liquid swine manure for the removal of soil THP showed higher efficiency as 84.4% and 92.2% respectively than inorganic nutrients of 80.2%. In addition to the removal of non-biodegradable portion of residual hydrocarbons in soil, a chemical oxidation was applied during tailing period of the biological remediation, which showed high remediation efficiency as 98.1% compared with single bioremediation efficiency of 84.7%.

• International Journal of Railway
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.1-4
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• 2011

In this study, the feasibility of using bioremediation to treat lubricant-contaminated soil around railroad turnouts was investigated. Lubricants used during the maintenance of railroad turnouts can drip onto the ground causing soil contamination. In the laboratory experiments, the residual TPH (Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons) concentration in soil gradually decreased after microorganisms degrading the lubricants were added. Generally, the soil around railroad turnouts is covered by a layer of ballasts. In the column experiments that were designed considering field sites, the removal efficiency of TPH was about 11% after 60 days of cultivation time. In the field experiments, microorganisms were added into the soil periodically, and finally the residual TPH concentrations were reduced to less than 1,700 mg/kg-soil on average. These results indicate that the lubricant in the contaminated soil around railroad turnouts could be efficiently removed through bioremediation method.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.8-17
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• 2006

Laboratory scale experiments were performed to investigate the removal efficiency of the in-situ chemical oxidation method and the air-sparging method for diesel contaminated soil and groundwater. Two kinds of diesel contaminated soils (TPH concentration : 2,401 mg/kg and 9,551 mg/kg) and groundwater sampled at Busan railroad station were used for the experiments. For batch experiments of chemical oxidation by using 50% hydrogen peroxide solution, TPH concentration of soil decreased to 18% and 15% of initial TPH concentration. For continuous column experiments, more than 70% of initial TPH in soil was removed by using soil flushing with 20% hydrogen peroxide solution, suggesting that most of diesel in soil reacted with hydrogen peroxide and degraded into $CO_2$ or $H_2O$ gases. Batch experiment for the air-sparging method with artificially contaminated groundwater (TPH concentration : 810 mg/L) was performed to evaluate the removal efficiency of the air-sparging method and TPH concentration of groundwater decreased to lower than 5 mg/L (waste water discharge tolerance limit) within 72 hours of air-sparging. For box experiment with diesel contaminated real soil and groundwater, the removal efficiency of air-sparging was very low because of the residual diesel phase existed in soil medium, suggesting that the air-sparging method should be applied to remediate groundwater after the free phase of diesel in soil medium was removed. For the last time, the in-situ box experiment for a unit process mixed the chemical oxidation process with the air-sparging process was performed to remove diesel from soil and groundwater at a time. Soil flushing with 20% hydrogen peroxide solution was applied to diesel contaminated soils in box, and subsequently contaminated groundwater was purified by the air-sparging method. With 23 L of 20% hydrogen peroxide solution and 2,160 L of air-sparging, TPH concentration of soil decreased from 9,551 mg/kg to 390 mg/kg and TPH concentration of groundwater reduced to lower than 5 mg/L. Results suggested that the combination process of the in-situ hydrogen peroxide flushing and the air-sparging has a great possibility to simultaneously remediate fuel contaminated soil and groundwater.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.353-359
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• 2013

The objectives of this study were to investigate effectiveness of the Compressed Air Jet (CAJ) System for cleaning up shorelines contaminated with crude oils and to examine effects of the system on total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) removal and microbial community changes before and after remediation of the oil-contaminated shorelines. These data will lead to better understanding of optimized remediation process. About 66% of TPH reduction was observed when the contaminated site was treated with the CAJ System 2, 3, 4, and 5 times. This treatment system was more efficient than the seawater pumping system under similar treatment conditions (by 40%). By the way, little oil degrader communities were observed despite a potential function of the air jet system to stimulate aerobic oil degraders. The apparent low population density of the oil degraders might be as a result of low concentration of TPH as a carbon source and limiting nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus. It was proposed that the CAJ System would contribute significantly to removal of residual oils on the shorelines in combination with addition of these limiting nutrients.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.62-68
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• 2008

The Low Temperature Thermal Desorption (LTTD) System equipped with a soil transfer unit, a rotary kiln, RTO, cyclones and a bag filter etc. was developed. The LTTD system was designed to be economically operated using LPG as a fuel and recirculating the discharged gas from the LTTD system through RTO. For the performance test of LTTD system the soil contaminated with light and heavy oils (2,690 mg TPH/kg soil) and with particle sizes below 50 mm was fed into the rotary kiln of LTTD system at 7$m^3$/hr with retention time of 15 minutes. Operation temperatures of LTTD system for the removal of soil TPH were $567^{\circ}C$ and $692^{\circ}C$. The residual TPH after treatment was 46 mg/kg and 32mg/kg respectively at each temperature condition, which shows high TPH removal efficiencies of the developed LTTD as 98.3% and 98.9%.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.48 no.6
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• pp.491-500
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• 2015

Batch experiments were performed to determine the feasibility of the surfactant-enhanced soil washing process at various washing conditions for the Kuwait soil seriously contaminated with the crude oil. The soil was sampled at a dried oil pond in Kuwait and its average TPH concentration was 223,754 mg/kg, which was too high to apply the conventional remediation process. Nine commercialized non-ionic surfactants were used for the batch experiment to measure the surfactant solubility for the crude oil because it was reported that they have worked for the soil remediation. Among them, three surfactants having high crude oil solubility were used for the soil washing experiment. From the result of batch experiment, 5% TritonX-100 washing solution showed the highest TPH removal efficiency (67%) for the crude oil contaminated soil. However, because the residual TPH concentration in the washed soil was still higher than the clean-up level in Kuwait (10,000 mg/kg), the repeated soil washing was performed. After five washings with 2% surfactant solution, the cumulative TPH removal efficiency was higher than 96% and the residual TPH concentration in the soil went down below the clean-up level. To measure the desorption capacity of TritonX-100 remained in the soil after the soil washing, the silica beads and the soil were washed five times with 2% TritonX-100 surfactant solution and then they were washed again with distilled water to detach the surfactant adsorbed on beads or soil. After five washings with surfactant solution, 7.8% and 19.6% of the surfactant was adsorbed on beads and soil, respectively. When additionally washed with distilled water, most of the residual surfactant were detached from beads and only 4.3% of surfactant was remained in soil. From the results, it was investigated that the surfactant-enhanced soil washing process with TritonX-100, Tergitol S-15-7, and Tergitol S-15-9 has a great capability for the remediation of the Kuwait soil seriously contaminated by crude oil (more than 220,000 mg/kg).