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

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.55 no.4
• /
• pp.377-388
• /
• 2022

Laboratory-scale experiments were performed to identify the As removal mechanism of the residual slag generated after the mineral carbonation process. The residual slags were manufactured from the steelmaking slag (blast oxygen furnace slag: BOF) through direct and indirect carbonation process. RDBOF (residual BOF after the direct carbonation) and RIBOF (residual BOF after the indirect carbonation) showed different physicochemical-structural characteristics compared with raw BOF such as chemical-mineralogical properties, the pH level of leachate and forming micropores on the surface of the slag. In batch experiment, 0.1 g of residual slag was added to 10 mL of As-solution (initial concentration: 203.6 mg/L) titrated at various pH levels. The RDBOF showed 99.3% of As removal efficiency at initial pH 1, while it sharply decreased with the increase of initial pH. As the initial pH of solution decreased, the dissolution of carbonate minerals covering the surface was accelerated, increasing the exposed area of Fe-oxide and promoting the adsorption of As-oxyanions on the RDBOF surface. Whereas, the As removal efficiency of RIBOF increased with the increase of initial pH levels, and it reached up to 70% at initial pH 10. Considering the PZC (point of zero charge) of the RIBOF (pH 4.5), it was hardly expected that the electrical adsorption of As-oxyanion on surface of the RIBOF at initial pH of 4-10. Nevertheless it was observed that As-oxyanion was linked to the Fe-oxide on the RIBOF surface by the cation bridge effect of divalent cations such as Ca²⁺, Mn²⁺, and Fe²⁺. The surface of RIBOF became stronger negatively charged, the cation bridge effect was more strictly enforced, and more As can be fixed on the RIBOF surface. However, the Ca-products start to precipitate on the surface at pH 10-11 or higher and they even prevent the surface adsorption of As-oxyanion by Fe-oxide. The TCLP test was performed to evaluate the stability of As fixed on the surface of the residual slag after the batch experiment. Results supported that RDBOF and RIBOF firmly fixed As over the wide pH levels, by considering their As desorption rate of less than 2%. From the results of this study, it was proved that both residual slags can be used as an eco-friendly and low-cost As remover with high As removal efficiency and high stability and they also overcome the pH increase in solution, which is the disadvantage of existing steelmaking slag as an As remover.

• Clean Technology
• /
• v.26 no.2
• /
• pp.102-108
• /
• 2020

In recent years, packed column has been widely used in separation processes, such as absorption, desorption, distillation, and extraction, in the petrochemical, fine chemistry, and environmental industries. Packed column is used as a contacting facility for gas-liquid and liquid-liquid systems filled with random packed materials in the column. Packed column has various advantages such as low pressure drop, economical efficiency, thermally sensitive liquids, easy repairing restoration, and noxious gas treatment. The performance of a packed column is highly dependent on the maintenance of good gas and liquid distribution throughout a packed bed; thus, this is an important consideration in a design of packed column. In this study, hydraulic pressure drop, hold-up as a function of liquid load, and mass transfer in the air, air/water, and air-NH₃/water systems were studied to find the geometrical characteristic for raschig super-ring experiment dry pressure drop. Based on the results, design factors and operating conditions to handle noxious gases were obtained. The dry pressure drop of the random packing raschig super-ring was linearly increased as a function of gas capacity factor with various liquid loads in the Air/Water system. This result is lower than that of 35 mm Pall-ring, which is most commonly used in the industrial field. Also, it can be found that the hydraulic pressure drop of raschig super-ring is consistently increased by gas capacity factor with various liquid loads. When gas capacity factor with various liquid loads is increased from 1.855 to 2.323 kg^-1/2 m^-1/2 S^-1, hydraulic pressure drop increases around 17%. Finally, the liquid hold-up related to packing volume, which is a parameter of specific liquid load depending on gas capacity factor, shows consistent increase by around 3.84 kg^-1/2 m^-1/2 S^-1 of the gas capacity factor. However, liquid hold-up significantly increases above it.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
• /
• v.31 no.1
• /
• pp.1-8
• /
• 2009

This research was performed to assess a Fenton-like oxidation using naturally present iron in the field to treat remained oils throughout silty clay residues which finally resided even after a series of soil washing process. Biodegradability was thus tested for reaction products to investigate a possible treatment of the Fenton-like oxidation coupled with a biological treatment process. For those purposes, two types of field soil samples (e.g., dewatered cake after conditioning with a polymer and not-dewatered residue) were tested to remove TPH by adding the various concentration of hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$). Moreover the biodegradability of treated samples was observed based on the ratio of $BOD_5/COD_{Cr}$ after Fenton-like oxidation. The Highest removal of TPH was at 1% of hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$) when hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$) was continuously injected for a period of time rather than that of spot introduction with the same amount of it. For the dewatered cake, TPH was effectively treated when the ratio of solid and water was mixed at 1 : 2. Employing cooking oil could increase solubility of TPH due to enhanced surface-active escalating TPH desorption from silty clay. Nonetheless, the biodegradability was decreased as long as the oxidation duration being extended regardless of operational conditions. It was therefore proved that Fenton-like oxidation using $H_2O_2$ and natural iron minerals was able to remove adsorbed oils in silty clay but the removal efficiency of TPH was low. And if a biological treatment process followed after Fenton-like oxidation, microorganisms would need enough time for acclimation.