A Proactive Approach Can Make Site Remediation Less Expensive

Without any incentive to clean up a contaminated site, remediation is often delayed until the site owner is compelled to act by regulatory agencies. In such a context, the selected technology is typically the one that will reach the remediation goals as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, this criterion is often met by overly expensive technologies, resulting in high and sometimes unaffordable total remediation costs, leading to a remediation with a negative net benefit. This study examines the effects of time constraint and benefit value on the optimal remediation strategy for a diesel-contaminated site. This strategy is developed using the technico-economic model METEORS, which takes into account the technology’s effectiveness, the uncertainty of the level of contamination, and the possibility of reducing this uncertainty through either an additional characterization (before selecting and applying a technology) or the monitoring of the remediation technology (during its use). Results of simulations with both economic and temporal constraints support a proactive approach to site remediation.     

Information Management System for Site Remediation Efforts

/ Environmental regulatory agencies are responsible for protecting human health and the environment in their constituencies. Their responsibilities include the identification, evaluation, and cleanup of contaminated sites. Leaking underground storage tanks (USTs) constitute a major source of subsurface and groundwater contamination. A significant portion of a regulatory body's efforts may be directed toward the management of UST-contaminated sites. In order to manage remedial sites effectively, vast quantities of information must be maintained, including analytical dataon chemical contaminants, remedial design features, and performance details. Currently, most regulatory agencies maintain such information manually. This makes it difficult to manage the data effectively. Some agencies have introduced automated record-keeping systems. However, the ad hoc approach in these endeavors makes it difficult to efficiently analyze, disseminate, and utilize the data. This paper identifies the information requirements for UST-contaminated site management at the Waste Cleanup Section of the Department of Environmental Resources Management in Dade County, Florida. It presents a viable design for an information management system to meet these requirements. The proposed solution is based on a back-end relational database management system with relevant tools for sophisticated data analysis and data mining. The database is designed with all tables in the third normal form to ensure data integrity, flexible access, and efficient query processing. In addition to all standard reports required by the agency, the system provides answers to ad hoc queries that are typically difficult to answer under the existing system. The database also serves as a repository of information for a decision support system to aid engineering design and risk analysis. The system may be integrated with a geographic information system for effective presentation and dissemination of spatial data.     

Immobilization of lead in anthropogenic contaminated soils using phosphates with/without oxalic acid

Understanding the effects of oxalic acid(OA) on the immobilization of Pb(Ⅱ) in contaminated soils by phosphate materials, has considerable benefits for risk assessment and remediation strategies for the soil. A series of phosphate amendments with/without oxalic acid were applied to two anthropogenic contaminated soils. We investigated the immobilization of Pb(Ⅱ) by KH2PO4, phosphate rock(PR), activated phosphate rock(APR) and synthetic hydroxyapatite(HAP) at different phosphate:Pb(P:Pb) molar ratios(0, 0.6, 2.0 and 4.0) in the presence/absence of 50 mmol oxalic acid/kg soil, respectively. The effects of treatments were evaluated using single extraction with deionized water or Ca Cl2, Community Bureau of Reference(BCR) sequential extraction and toxicity characteristic leaching procedure(TCLP)methods. Our results showed that the concentration of water extractable, exchangeable and TCLP-Pb all decreased with incubation time. The concentration of water-extractable Pb after120 days was reduced by 100% when soils were amended with APR, HAP and HAP + OA, and the TCLP-Pb was 5 mg/L for the red soil at P:Pb molar ratio 4.0. Water-soluble Pb could not be detected and the TCLP-Pb was 5 mg/L at all treatments applied to the yellow-brown soil. BCR results indicated that APR was most effective, although a slight enhancement of water-soluble phosphate was detected at the P:Pb molar ratio 4.0 at the beginning of incubation. Oxalic acid activated phosphates, and so mixing insoluble phosphates with oxalic acid may be a useful strategy to improve their effectiveness in reducing Pb bioavailability.     

多级强化地下水修复技术对NH_4~+-N的去除机制

为解决地下水污染修复技术中PT(抽出处理)和PRB(渗透性反应墙)存在的一些不足,搭建了MET(多级强化地下水修复技术)小试装置,以NH4+-N为目标污染物,研究MET对地下水中NH4+-N的去除效果及机制.结果表明,在进水水力负荷为14.68 m3/(m2·d)、ρ(NH4+-N)为25.0 mg/L的条件下,装置连续运行45 d,NH4+-N去除率呈先降后升、平稳后再下降的趋势,平均值达90%以上.出水ρ(NH4+-N)平均值为2.0 mg/L,其中,硝化作用和微生物同化作用使ρ(NH4+-N)平均下降13.9和5.2mg/L,分别占进水ρ(NH4+-N)的54%和20%;植物作用、基质永久吸附作用和挥发作用分别使ρ(NH4+-N)下降2.9、0.7和0.7mg/L,占进水ρ(NH4+-N)的12%、3%和3%.综上,MET对地下水中NH4+-N的去除率可达90%,实现了高效去除NH4+-N的目标.     

Fenton法和类Fenton法降解土壤中的二苯砷酸

本文对Fenton法与类Fenton法降解土壤中的二苯砷酸(diphenylarsinic acid,DPAA)进行了研究.考察了H2O2投加量和催化剂种类(Fe2+/Fe3+)对红壤及黑土中DPAA降解效果的影响,并采用高效液相色谱-质谱联用法(HPLC-MS/MS)对降解中间产物进行了初步鉴定.结果显示,针对红壤与黑土分别采用类Fenton法与Fenton法,在H2O2投加浓度为1 mol·L-1,含铁催化剂浓度为0.25 mol·L-1,土水比为1∶3,反应时间为1h的条件下,红壤及黑土中DPAA的降解率均可达到65%以上.HPLC-MS/MS的分析结果表明,DPAA可脱苯环形成降解产物苯砷酸(phenylarsinic acid,PAA),而PAA进一步氧化生成无机砷,这可能是Fenton/类Fenton法降解DPAA的途径之一.     

规模化农田土壤重金属污染修复的中试试验研究——以某镇土壤污染治理为例

农用地重金属污染长期以来一直是生态环境的热点和难点问题。2017年,对某镇农田土壤重金属污染开展详查,单项污染指数评价结果表明,镉超标率为67.60%(Pi>1),基于内梅罗污染指数法的评价结果显示,57.30%的点位受到不同程度的污染(PN≥1.0);2018年,分别选取钝化修复和植物修复进行中试试验,经钝化修复后土壤有效镉和总镉含量分别平均降低32.73%和5.64%。经超富集植物籽粒笕种植一季修复后,土壤总镉含量降低15%以上。本次中试试验修复效果良好,能为下一阶段的土壤镉污染修复方案的制定和优化提供科学的依据,为全国农用地重金属污染修复提供了有价值的借鉴意义。     

Removal of Cr(VI) from Cr-contaminated groundwater through electrochemical addition of Fe(II)

The conventional chemical reduction-precipitation technique in the removal of Cr(VI) from contaminated groundwater involves a two-step process whereby Cr(VI) is first reduced to Cr(III) at an acidic pH by a reducing agent and in a subsequent step, Cr(III) is precipitated as insoluble hydroxide at an alkaline pH. In a variation of this method, Fe(II) is added electrochemically to the Cr(VI) containing water. From a pure iron electrode, Fe(2+) ions are released into the solution and bring forth the reduction of Cr(VI). At the cathode, H(2)O is reduced whereby the OH(-) ions entering the solution keep the pH of the solution in the alkaline range. This latter fact greatly facilitates simultaneous reduction of Cr(VI) to Cr(III) and co-precipitation of hydroxides of trivalent Cr and Fe. On the basis of a set of experimental data, it is shown that this process is both thermodynamically and kinetically efficient, meaning, with the electrochemical method, rapid and nearly complete removal of Cr(VI) from a groundwater source with both high and low levels of Cr-contamination can be achieved. These factors make the electrochemical process superior to the conventional chemical process in remediation of Cr-contaminated groundwater.     

Prioritizing groundwater remediation policies: a fuzzy compatibility analysis decision aid

The implementation of groundwater remediation strategies in contaminated areas includes not only a cost-benefit analysis and an environmental risk assessment but also another type of study called compatibility analysis. A compatibility analysis targets the interactions between remediation technologies and site characteristics, such as the types of active contaminants and their concentrations, soil composition and geological features, etc. The purpose of this analysis is to identify the most compatible remediation plan for the contaminated site. In this paper, we introduce a decision support system for the prioritization of remediation plans based on their estimated compatibility index. As this model receives data in terms of linguistic judgments and experts' opinions, we use fuzzy sets theory to deal with these uncertainties. First, we break down the concept of compatibility into the measurable factors. Then by using a multiple-attribute decision-making (MADM) outline, we compute a factorial, regional and overall compatibility indicator for each plan. Finally, by comparing these generated indicators, we rank the remediation policies.     

纳米零价铁耦合黏土修复污染土壤的研究进展

黏土负载型nZVI具有低成本、易制备、环境相容性好、综合性能优越的特点.本文在归纳nZVI改性策略的基础上,比较了黏土种类对nZVI形貌和性能的影响,提出了理想黏土载体的优选顺序,分析了复合材料的铁含量、比表面积、nZVI尺寸等与去除性能之间的关系,对nZVI耦合黏土在修复土壤重金属、卤代有机物、硝酸盐、新型污染物等方面的研究进行了总结,并概述了nZVI技术在土壤修复中的负面效应,最后对nZVI耦合黏土修复污染土壤的未来方向进行了展望.     

我国重金属防治与土壤修复行业2013年发展综述

综述了2013年我国重金属防治与土壤修复行业的发展环境、行业的技术发展进展,分析了我国重金属防治与土壤修复的市场规模和市场潜力,针对行业发展中存在的主要问题,提出了解决对策和建议,并对行业的发展进行了展望。