• Membrane and Water Treatment
• /
• v.9 no.3
• /
• pp.137-146
• /
• 2018

Soil washing is one of the most frequently used remediation technologies for heavy metal-contaminated soils. Inorganic and organic acids and chelating agents that can enhance the removal of heavy metals from contaminated soils have been employed as soil washing agents. However, the toxicity, low removal efficiency and high cost of these chemicals limit their use. Given that humic substance (HS) can effectively chelate heavy metals, the development of an eco-friendly, performance-efficient and cost-effective soil washing agent using a nano-scale chelator composed of HS was examined in this study. Copper (Cu) and lead (Pb) were selected as target heavy metals. In soil washing experiments, HS concentration, pH, soil:washing solution ratio and extraction time were evaluated with regard to washing efficiency and the chelation effect. The highest removal rates by soil washing (69% for Cu and 56% for Pb) were achieved at an HS concentration of 1,000 mg/L and soil:washing solution ratio of 1:25. Washing with HS was found to be effective when the pH value was higher than 8, which can be attributed to the increased chelation effect between HS and heavy metals at the high pH range. In contrast, the washing efficiency decreased markedly in the low pH range due to HS precipitation. The chelation capacities for Cu and Pb in the aqueous phase were determined to be 0.547mmol-Cu/g-HS and 0.192mmol-Pb/g-HS, respectively.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.46 no.6
• /
• pp.509-520
• /
• 2013

In this study, heavy metals are removed by soil washing from soils contaminated with Cu, Zn, and Pb, whose maximum concentrations are up to 3350, 1220, and 2240 mg/kg, respectively. Through various soil washing experiments, the optimum conditions, including type and concentration of washing reagent, washing time, mixing ratio of soil and washing reagent, and stirring speed, are derived for effective removal of the heavy metals. It is found that the most effective washing reagent and its concentration are hydrochloric acid and 50 mM, respectively. The most suitable washing time is 30 minutes and the optimal mixing ratio of soil and washing reagent is 1:30 (g/mL). The removal efficiency, on the other hand, is not affected by stirring speed. The removal efficiencies of the heavy metals decrease when washing reagent is reused. Furthermore, the heavy metals are readsorbed onto soil in case of consecutive reuse of washing reagent.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.16 no.4
• /
• pp.31-37
• /
• 2011

The feasibility study of soil flushing was investigated to remediate lubricant oil and zinc contaminated railway soil. In this study, mixed washing agents of surfactant and inorganic acid/base were used for the simultaneous removal. The mixed washing agent of non-ionic surfactant and HCl removed 15% of the lubricant oil and 40% of zinc, respectively. Alkaline-enhanced soil washing process increased the removal of lubricant oil up to 40%. This is because alkaline solution reduced the interfacial tension between water phase and lubricant oil phase due to the soap formation reaction. To simulate in-situ soil flushing for the remediation of railroad-related contamination, two dimensional soil flushing was carried out based on the results of batch soil washing. In the soil flushing, the removal efficiencies of lubricant oil and zinc were 34% and 16%, respectively. Even though the removal efficiency was low, the mixed washing agent can remove metal and lubricant oil simultaneously.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.13 no.2
• /
• pp.30-35
• /
• 2008

In this study, the feasibility of soil washing, chemical oxidation and sonication was investigated to treat lubricantcontaminated railroad soil. Tergitol, a non-ionic surfactant, was used as a washing agent with or without iso-propyl acohol as a cosolvent. However, it was not effective to remove lubricant from soil even though tergitol was the most effective washing agent for diesel-contaminated soil. The cosolvent reduced the overall washing efficiency. Chemical oxidation removed 30% of lubricant from contaminated soil. Soil washing after chemical oxidation extracted additionally 16-17% of lubricant. Sonication enhanced-soil washing showed enhanced overall efficiency of soil washing. Lubricant-contaminated soil should be remediated by the other technology used for diesel-contaminated soil.

• Journal of Korea Soil Environment Society
• /
• v.2 no.1
• /
• pp.99-107
• /
• 1997

In this study, a series of batch-scale tests were conducted to optimize the design parameters for the application of soil washing techniques to the hydrophobic organic compounds(HOCs)-contaminated soil and to find the effective methods for the recovery of surfactants from washing effluent by using solvent. Several nonionic surfactants (polyoxyethylene oleyl ester) and sophorolipid were applied to the artificially contaminated soil (4,000 mg n-dodecane/kg dry soil). The effects of washing time, concentration of surfactant solution, dilution ratio, and temperature on washing efficiencies were examined. Hydrophile-liphophile balance (HLB) number was proven to be one of the important parameters for soil washing. The HLB numbers of OA-5 and sophorolipid are too low to form a stable soil-water emulsion. They showed very low washing efficiencies less than 10e1o. If HLB number is in the proper range to form a stable soil-water emulsion, surfactant having higher solubility for HOCs shows higher washing efficiency. OA-14 having higher HLB number than OA-9 formed more stable soil-water emulsion. But its washing efficiency was about 20% due to a lower molar solubility ratio (MSR) than OA-9. OA-9, which forms a stable soil-water emulsion and has comparatively high sotubility for HOCs, showed about 60% washing efficiency by itself. To recover anthracene effectively from OA-9 washing effluent by using benzene as an organic solvent, desirable temperature and pH were $30^{\circ}C$ and 2, respectively.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.20 no.5
• /
• pp.26-33
• /
• 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
• /
• 2004.04a
• /
• pp.239-242
• /
• 2004

Pilot-scale soil washing facility was developed and operation condition was determined in order to remediate a soil contaminated with As, Ni and Zn. Soil washing facility is composed of soil particle separation, soil washing and wastewater treatment process. Both oxyanionic As and cationic Ni and Zn were effciently removed using HCl rather 0than H$_2$SO$_4$ and H$_2$PO$_4$. This is why oxyanion and cation metals can be extracted simultaneously from the contaminated soil in acidic solution. Further, the contaminated soils include calcite and then demand much acidity, that is consumption of acid solution. Fine particles are enriched with contaminants, and coarse particles are removed effectively rather than fine particles. As, Ni and Zn are strongly associated with minerals, and then the residence time should be increased for a reaction with washing solution.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
• /
• 2003.04a
• /
• pp.337-339
• /
• 2003

The technology removing radionuclides from soil using soil washing was studied. The main radionuclides contaminated in the soil are Cs$^{137}$ and Co$^{60}$ . It is suitable that scrubbing time is 4 hours and a mixing ratio of soil weight and washing solution volume is 1:10. more than two times continuous scrubbing method with 0.5 M oxalic acid was needed to remove Cs$^{137}$ and Co$^{60}$ from soil more than 70%. Radionuclides removal efficiencies of recycling washing solutions recycled with strong acid resins until 5 times are similar to that of 0.5 M oxalic acid.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
• /
• v.16 no.1
• /
• pp.41-47
• /
• 2018

Radioactive substances, especially $^{137}Cs$ discharged in the course of Nuclear Power Plant Accident or maintenance of power plants, cause contamination of the soil. For habitation of residents and reuse of industrial land, it is inevitably necessary to decontaminate the soil. This study examines a soil washing process that has actually been used for washing of radioactive-contaminated soil. The soil washing process uses a washing agent to weaken surface tension of the soil and cesium, separating cesium from the soil. In this study, in order to raise the efficiency of the process, a flocculating agent was added to the washing water to remove fine soil and cesium. The cesium concentrations before and after applying the flocculating agent to cesium solution were measured through ICP-OES. When using 0.1 g of J-AF flocculating agent in the experiment, the maximum Cs removal performance was approximately 88%; the minimum value was 67%. Species combinations between cesium and soil were predicted using Visual MINTEQ Code; the ability to reuse the washing water or not, and the removal rate of the fine soil, determined via measurement of the turbidity after applying the flocculating agent, were determined.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
• /
• 1999.10a
• /
• pp.12-15
• /
• 1999

Soils collected from an agricultural field in Youngdong, Chungbuk province were intentionally: contaminated with lead and copper. The efficiencies of soil washing with HCl, SDS and Tween 80 were investigated through the column mode experiments. Washing with 0.1 N HCl obtained the best result for lead and copper removal (95.04 %, 95.94 %). In case of SDS, lead and copper removal rate was such poor as 7.1 % and copper was 24.04 %, respectively. Meanwhile, washing of contaminated soil with Tween 80, did not show any significant removal effect. It was found that the washing efficiency was dependent on pH of washing agent.