Remediation of polluted soil by a two-stage treatment system: desorption of phenanthrene in soil and electrochemical treatment to recover the extraction agent.

In this study, the feasibility of a two-stage treatment process for the remediation of soil contaminated with phenanthrene as a model polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) has been assessed at laboratory scale. The initial stage of the process involved contacting contaminated soil with a solution of Tween 80 to enhance the desorption of phenanthrene from soil. In order to simulate a flushing process this initial stage was carried out in a washing packed-bed soil column. At the optimised conditions the total phenanthrene removal attained a value of almost 65% after 3 days. The second stage of the suggested treatment involved regeneration of the washing solution via phenanthrene degradation. The use of an electrochemical treatment was proposed for surfactant recovery and degradation of contaminants present in the solution collected. This oxidation was accomplished via an electrochemical cell by using graphite as electrode material. The phenanthrene was almost totally degraded in 3 days, reaching a degradation of about 96%. In addition, a test in which this regenerated solution was employed in the washing process was carried out in shake flask and washing column. The results demonstrate that selective degradation of pollutants by electrochemical treatment is potentially effective in reusing surfactant in another polluted soil treatment.