Remediation of sandy soils using surfactant solutions and foams

Abstract

Remediation of sandy soils contaminated with diesel oil was investigated in bench-scale experiments. Surfactant solution, regular foams and colloidal gas aphrons were used as remediation fluids. An experimental design technique was used to investigate the effect of relevant process variables on remediation efficiency. Soils prepared with different average particle sizes (0.04–0.12 cm) and contaminated with different diesel oil contents (40–80 g/kg) were used in experiments conducted with remediation fluids. A mathematical model was proposed allowing for the determination of oil removal rate-constant ( k v) and oil content remaining in the soil after remediation ( C of) as well as estimation of the percentage of oil removed. Oil removal efficiencies obtained under the central experimental design conditions were 96%, 88% and 35% for aphrons, regular foams and surfactant solutions, respectively. High removal efficiencies were obtained using regular foams and aphrons, demanding small amounts of surfactant.