Humic acid enhanced remediation of an emplaced diesel source in groundwater. 1. Laboratory-based pilot scale test

The enhanced solubility of petroleum-derived compounds in humic acid solutions is the basis for a new groundwater remediation technology. In this unique pilot-scale test, a stationary contaminant source consisting of diesel fuel was placed below the water table in a model sand aquifer (1.2 x 5.5 x 1.8-m deep) and flushed with water at a flow rate of 2 cm/h over 5 years. At 51 days, laboratory grade humic acid was added to the water and maintained at a level of approximately 0.8 g/l. The addition of humic acid had only a small impact on the aqueous transport of the BTEX components, which were rapidly dissolved from the diesel, but had a large effect on the flushing of PAHs, including methylated naphthalenes (MNs). Binding to aqueous humic acid enhanced the solubilization of MNs two- to tenfold. During aqueous transport, biodegradation of the BTEX and PAHs occurred, limiting the lateral and longitudinal extent of the diesel contaminant plume in the model aquifer. It appears that through enhanced solubilization, the overall biodegradation rate of the MNs was increased. As the various MNs were depleted from the diesel source, the MN plume shrank and then disappeared.     

Soil heavy metal pollution from Pb/Zn smelting regions in China and the remediation potential of biomineralization

Smelting activities pose serious environmental problems due to the local and regional heavy metal pollution in soils they cause. It is therefore important to understand the pollution situation and its source in the contaminated soils. In this paper, data on heavy metal pollution in soils resulting from Pb/Zn smelting (published in the last 10 years) in China was summarized. The heavy metal pollution was analyzed from a macroscopic point of view. The results indicated that Pb, Zn, As and Cd were common contaminants that were present in soils with extremely high concentrations. Because of the extreme carcinogenicity, genotoxicity and neurotoxicity that heavy metals pose, remediation of the soils contaminated by smelting is urgently required. The primary anthropogenic activities contributing to soil pollution in smelting areas and the progressive development of accurate source identification were performed. Due to the advantages of biominerals, the potential of biomineralization for heavy metal contaminated soils was introduced. Furthermore, the prospects of geochemical fraction analysis, combined source identification methods as well as several optimization methods for biomineralization are presented, to provide a reference for pollution investigation and remediation in smelting contaminated soils in the future.     

湖北某重金属污染土壤稳定化/固化治理工程实例

为保证南水北调水源地水质安全,该项工程对湖北省郧县境内4个关停搬迁企业原址约16万m3重金属污染土壤进行了修复治理。污染土壤清挖标准为《展览会用地土壤环境质量标准》(HJ350—2007)A级标准,污染土壤无害化处理验收标准为浸出液浓度低于《地表水环境质量标准》(GB3838—2002)中IV类水体标准值。工程采用异位稳定化/固化技术对重金属污染土壤进行了无害化处理,所用稳定化/固化药剂为施工单位自主研发的硫系和铁系稳定化药剂;无害化处理后的近20万m3土壤采用安全填埋进行处置。工程的成功实施为南水北调库区水质安全提供了有力保障。     

环境损害评估中修复方案的费用效益分析

土壤、地下水和地表水等污染治理成本通常较高,但修复后会带来众多直接和间接效益,因此,在进行修复决策和环境损害评估时应当予以综合考虑。文章对环境修复成本效益分析的定义、目的和方法进行了阐述,并结合具体案例解释了环境修复成本效益分析的具体过程。修复成本通常依据价格指南、费用估算模型/软件、类似工程经验、承包商报价等进行估算,修复效益可采用享乐价格法,根据个人意愿为环境支付的费用,进行计算。案例研究结果表明,环境修复效益及其受益方并不是单一的,在进行较大规模的环境修复决策时,应由政府进行干预,并积极寻求各利益相关方的配合,综合评估其经济可行性。在环境损害评估中,也应形成多方协调机制,科学合理地评价修复方案的费用和效益,合理确定赔偿数额。     

The legacy of surface mining: Remediation,restoration, reclamation and rehabilitation

Surface mining is a global phenomenon. When dealing with the land disturbances caused by surface mining operations, the terms remediation, reclamation, restoration and rehabilitation (R4) are commonly used interchangeably or otherwise vaguely defined. Expectations associated with these terms may differ significantly from one stakeholder to another, however. Regulators, industry, environmental practitioners, local communities and the general public therefore stand to benefit from a precise terminology based on agreed-upon end-goals. The latter range from the avoidance of exposure to pollutants (remediation) to the full recovery of the original ecosystem (restoration). Although frequently claimed as the end-goal, restoration may often not be unachievable, because of altered hydrology, habitat fragmentation, contamination, climate change, prohibitive costs and other environmental and socio-economic boundary conditions. Mostly, the definitions of reclamation and rehabilitation may overlap in their definitions and approaches. Here we attempt the creation of a road-map that can clearly translate end-goals for each of the R4 terms. According to the definitions encountered and exposed here, reclamation, which aims to recover key ecosystem services and biogeochemical functions within a replacement ecosystem or rehabilitation, which implies a repurposing of the landscape, may be the best approaches to deal with surface mining legacies.     

Remediation of DDT-Contaminated Water and Soil by Using Pretreated Iron Byproducts from the Automotive Industry

The objective of this study was to quantify the effectiveness of different pretreated iron byproducts from the automotive industry to degrade DDT [(1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(4-chlorophenyl) ethane] in aqueous solutions and soil slurry. Iron byproducts from automotive manufacturing were pretreated by three different methods (heating, solvent and 0.5N HCl acid washing) prior to experimentation. All pretreated irons were used at 5% (wt v^{? 1}) to treat 0.014 mM (5 mgL^{? 1}) of DDT in aqueous solution. Among the pretreated irons, acid pretreated iron results in the fastest destruction rates, with a pseudo first-order degradation rate of 0.364 d^{? 1}. By lowering the pH of the DDT aqueous solution from 9 to 3, destruction kinetic rates increase more than 20%. In addition, when DDT-contaminated soil slurry (3.54 mg kg^{? 1}) was incubated with 5% (wt v^{? 1}) acid-pretreated iron, more than 90% destruction of DDT was observed within 8 weeks. Moreover, DDT destruction kinetics were enhanced when Fe(II), Fe(III) or Al(III) sulfate salts were added to the soil slurry, with the following order of destruction kinetics: Al(III) sulfate > Fe(III) sulfate > Fe(II) sulfate. These results provide proof-of concept that inexpensive iron byproducts of the automotive industry can be used to remediate DDT-contaminated water and soil.     

珠三角农用地土壤重金属污染治理修复研究实践与展望

利用改性膨润土材料稳定钝化修复重金属污染土壤技术对珠三角典型农用地土壤重金属Cd,Pb污染修复进行了研究与应用探讨。在对选择的典型污染工作区进行污染现状详细调查与评价的基础上,以钙基膨润土为基础材料,研制了18种改性膨润土修复材料,通过吸附解吸重金属实验筛选出7种吸附能力较强的改性材料;并通过盆栽模拟修复试验和污染场地示范修复试验,最终筛选出对Cd,Pb污染土壤有较好修复能力的修复材料,即巯基化改性膨润土及钠化胡敏酸改性膨润土。     

Life cycle assessment of active and passive groundwater remediation technologies

Groundwater remediation technologies, such as pump-and-treat (PTS) and funnel-and-gate systems (FGS), aim at reducing locally appearing contaminations. Therefore, these methodologies are basically evaluated with respect to their capability to yield local improvements of an environmental situation, commonly neglecting that their application is also associated with secondary impacts. Life cycle assessment (LCA) represents a widely accepted method of assessing the environmental aspects and potential impacts related to a product, process or service. This study presents the set-up of a LCA framework in order to compare the secondary impacts caused by two conceptually different technologies at the site of a former manufactured gas plant in the city of Karlsruhe, Germany. As a FGS is already operating at this site, a hypothetical PTS of the same functionality is adopted. During the LCA, the remediation systems are evaluated by focusing on the main technical elements and their significance with respect to resource depletion and potential adverse effects on ecological quality, as well as on human health. Seven impact categories are distinguished to address a broad spectrum of possible environmental loads. A main point of discussion is the reliability of technical assumptions and performance predictions for the future. It is obvious that a high uncertainty exists when estimating impact specific indicator values over operation times of decades. An uncertainty analysis is conducted to include the imprecision of the underlying emission and consumption data and a scenario analysis is utilised to contrast various possible technological variants. Though the results of the study are highly site-specific, a generalised relative evaluation of potential impacts and their main sources is the principle objective rather than a discussion of the calculated absolute impacts. A crucial finding that can be applied to any other site is the central role of steel, which particularly derogates the valuation of FGS due to the associated emissions that are harmful to human health. In view of that, environmental credits can be achieved by selecting a mineral-based wall instead of sheet piles for the funnel construction and by minimising the steel consumption for the gate construction. Granular activated carbon (GAC) is exclusively considered as the treatment material, both in-situ and on-site. Here it is identified as an additional main determinant of the relative assessment of the technologies since it is continuously consumed.     

The role of agency goals and local context in Great Lakes water resources public involvement programs

As complex social phenomena, public involvement processes are influenced by contextual factors. This study examined agency goals for public involvement and assessed the importance of local context in remedial action planning, a community-based water resources program aimed at the cleanup of the 42 most polluted locations in the Great Lakes Basin. Agency goals for public involvement in remedial action plans (RAPs) were agency-oriented and focused on public acceptance of the plan, support for implementation, and positive agency-public relations. Corresponding to these goals, citizen advisory committees were created in 75% of the RAP sites as a primary means for public input into the planning process. Factors that influenced the implementation of public involvement programs in remedial action planning included public orientation toward the remediation issue, local economic conditions, the interaction of diverse interests in the process, agency and process credibility, experience of local leadership, and jurisdictional complexity. A formative assessment of “community readiness” appeared critical to appropriate public involvement program design. Careful program design may also include citizen education and training components, thoughtful management of ongoing agency-public relations and conflict among disparate interests in the process, overcoming logistical difficulties that threaten program continuity, using local expertise and communication channels, and circumventing interjurisdictional complexities.     

Evaluation of the optimal washing conditions for dioxin-contaminated soils from the circumference of an incinerator

 The optimal soil-washing conditions for dioxins were estimated on a soil sample from the circumference of an incinerator in Nose City, Osaka, Japan. The solvents ethanol, methanol, and acetone, together with a surfactant (100% of each) could extract 40% of the dioxins from contaminated soil at room temperature. From among these solvents, ethanol was chosen for a study on how to optimize the extraction conditions because of its low toxicity and its economic advantages. The time-course of the agitation showed that the extraction rate increased for 1 min, and thereafter the rate decreased. Therefore, the agitation time was fixed at 1 min. To estimate the effect of temperature on the extraction rate, the extraction temperature was changed. The amount of dioxins extracted was largest at the boiling point of ethanol (78.3°C), giving about 76% extraction. Furthermore, at this temperature, almost 100% of the dioxins in the contaminated soil were extracted when the ratio of water to ethanol was 20%. Received: March 6, 2002 / Accepted: September 9, 2002