Evaluation of steel slag for organic and inorganic removals in soil aquifer treatment

Abstract

Basic oxygen furnace slag (BOFS) was evaluated as an additive to the soil aquifer treatment (SAT) in the laboratory column tests and the characteristic behaviors of organics and inorganic compounds through the columns were examined with both natural soil and the mixture of soil and slag. It was obvious that the slag could contribute more removals of DOC under both unsaturated and saturated conditions of SAT operation possibly due to its larger surface area. The molecular weight fractions of less than 1 kDa was greatly degraded during the unsaturated SAT operation by biodegradation and the molecular weight fractions of higher than 10 kDa was also significantly reduced after unsaturated SAT by adsorption. It was indicated that the steel slag seemed to play an effective role in reducing the refractory organics during saturated SAT. The macroporous XAD resin isolations showed the increase of hydrophilic fractions with a decrease in the hydrophobic and transphilic fractions through SAT. The use of steel slag resulted in adverse effect on the nitrification due to high pH (about 11) and the relative redox potential measurement showed that the steel slag provided a non-oxidative environment in SAT columns. Almost complete removal of phosphate was achieved during unsaturated and saturated SAT operations with a relatively low hydraulic loading rate and effective adsorption by steel slag. A 20–30% increase of sulfate was observed in slag-containing unsaturated columns whereas the saturated 100% slag columns exhibited 68% decrease of sulfate concentration.