Remediation of contaminated soil with diesel by soil venting technique

Abstract

Soil venting is an effective and widely used method to remediate soils contaminated with hydrocarbons. A set of experiments was conducted in a one-dimensional soil column test section to investigate the effect of preheating the air in a soil venting system. Diesel fuel, which was used as the only contaminant, was analyzed and modeled with 14 major components. Temperature readings from the thermocouples, located in the test section were recorded during the experiment and the composition of hydrocarbons in the effluent air was also monitored. The results show that the diesel components are removed according to their volatility with the higher volatility components being removed first. An increase in venting air flow rate or inlet air temperature can considerably speed up the process. The increase in inlet air temperature is very effective in increasing the removal rate of the heavier components. A one-dimensional, non-isothermal, complete mixing model was used to predict the evaporation rates of the contaminant components and temperature distribution in the test section. Model results have been found to be in good agreement with the experimental data.