• 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%.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.226-233
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• 2007

In this study, the effects of additives such as ionic surfactant and cosurfactant were studied on the solubilization of sulfur compounds contained in the crude oil by Tergitol series nonionic surfactants. It was found that the addition of an ionic surfactant such as sodium oleate, potassium oleate, CTAB and DTAB did not enhance solubilization capacity of Tergitol series nonionic surfactant. On the other hand, the addition of a long-chain alcohol as a cosurfactant increased the solubilization of sulfur compounds in the crude oil. The effect of alcohol was found to become reduced with an increase in the amount of crude oil used mainly due to partitioning phenomena of an nonionic surfactant. The enhancement of solubilizing capacity of Tergitol series nonionic surfactant with addition of a cosurfactant was associated with a decrease in interfacial tension between crude oil and surfactant solution. The pH of Tergitol nonionic surfactant solution did not affect the solubilization of sulfur compounds. Finally, it was found that the growth of sulfur reducing microoganisms was not greatly affected by both addition of nonionic surfactant and cosurfactant.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2003.09a
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• pp.356-359
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• 2003

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are representative hydrophobic organic carbons (HOCs). Surfactant-enhanced electrokinetic (EK) remediation is an innovative in-situ technology that can effectively remove HOCs from low-permeability soils. In this study, the electrokinetic remediation using Tergitol 15-S-12, a nonionic surfactant, was conducted for the removal of phenanthrene from kaolinite. Tergitol 15-S-12 was used at concentrations of 1.5, 2.0, 2.5 and 7.5 g/L to enhance the solubility of phenanthrene. When the surfactant solution was applied to EK system, high electrical potential gradient was maintained and the amount of electroosmotic flow decreased. Removal efficiency of phenanthrene was proportional to the concentration of Tergitol 15-S-12 because the solubility and mobility of phenanthrene was enhanced by surfactant micelle. Therefore, the suitable concentration of nonionic surfactant Tergitol 15-S-12 is expected to improve the removal efficiency of PAHs in EK remediation.

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

• 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).

• Proceedings of the KSR Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.1229-1235
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• 2007

Railway-contaminated soil is categorized by total petroleum hydrocarbon(TPH)-related contamination and heavy-metal contamination. The sources of TPH are diesel and lubricant. In this study, the feasibility of soil washing, chemical oxidation and ultra-sonication were investigated to treat lubricant-contaminated railway soil. tergitol, a non-ionic surfactant, was investigated as a washing agent. However, it is not effective to remove lubricant from soil even though tergitol is most effective washing agent for diesel-contaminated soil. Addition of alcohols with surfactant enhanced slightly washing efficiency of the lubricant-contaminated soil. To remediate railway-contaminated soil, source of pollution should be considered.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.61-73
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• 2003

A model describing the distribution of contaminants in soil/water systems for the application of soil-washing technology using surfactant was developed. The model simulation was conducted for screening the best surfactant, evaluating the effect of water dose, and optimizing soil-washing methodology. Naphthalene, phenanthrene, and pyrene as target compounds and Triton X-l00, Tergitol NP-10, Igepal CA-720, and Brij 30 as surfactants were used in the model simulations. The washing efficiency was not greatly enhanced by increasing water dose with the same total surfactant dose. The approach of successive washings was more efficient than a single washing with the same amount of water and surfactant. Equal allotment of the amount of water and surfactant was the best condition for the successive washings. The model can be applied for the optimal design of the soil washing process without extra experimental efforts.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2004.04a
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• pp.346-349
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• 2004

Surfactant-enhanced electrokinetic (EK) process was investigated to remove polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from low-permeable soils. Phenanthrene and kaolinite were selected as a representative PAH and a model soil, respectively. A nonionic surfactant Tergitol 15-S-12 was applied to improve the solubility of phenanthrene and sodium chloride was used as an electrolyte at the various concentrations from 0.001 to 0.1M. The addition of electrolyte affected both the removal efficiency and operation cost. When electrolyte was introduced, the electrical potential gradient became low and thus power consumption was reduced. However, as electrolyte concentration increased, the electroosmotic flow also decreased, so the removal efficiency of contaminant decreased. Therefore, the removal efficiency and power consumption should be considered simultaneously to determine the iptimum surfactant concentration, so a relatively lower concentration of electrolyte than certain value is desired.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.537-542
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• 1999

Removal of sulfur compounds in the petroleum products is essential for the prevention of sulfur oxides. However, conventional methods involving catalytic reactions are found to have some limitations in complete removal of harmful sulfur compounds and to require relatively high cost. Recently, desulfurization process using microorganisms is known to be promising in terms of excellent sulfur removal efficiency and reasonably low treatment cost. For the biodesulfurization process to be effective, the solubilization of sulfur compounds into aqueous solution is a prerequisite. In this study, polyoxyethylene nonionic surfactants were used in order to enhance the solubilization of sulfur spectrophotometer. The solubilization of sulfur compounds was found to increase with temperature and to bo abruptly increased at above 1 wt % surfactant solutions. It was also observed that the longer the hydrophobic chain of the surfactant molecule, the higher solubilizing power of a nonionic surfactant. It was found that the Tergitol series surfactants showed higher solubilizing capacity than Neodol series presumably due to the disruption of the regular packing in the hydrocarbon region of the surfactant aggregates.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.8-14
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• 2008

The effects of surfactant types and the ratio of nonionic and anionic surfactants on the washing of diesel contaminated soil were investigated. In batch tests, the nonionic surfactant, which has HLB within 12-13, showed a high diesel removal efficiency and Tergitol 15-S-7 (T15S7) with 20 g/L concentration exhibited the highest removal efficiency of 79-88% among the tested nonionic surfactants. Anionic surfactants, in general, showed lower removal efficiency than nonionic surfactants. In case of mixed surfactant system, the removal efficiency increased with nonionic surfactant concentration. With mixed surfactants of T15S7 and SDS as 3 : 1 ratio, diesel removal was enhanced to 76% with 10 g/L of the mixed surfactants. These results could be used in the selection of proper surfactants for remediation of diesel contaminated soils.