The ability of clay-cement hydraulic binders to accumulate aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons

Abstract

Environmental pollution by oil derivatives is one of the most important ecological problems. The penetration of insuffi ciently treated refi nery-petrochemical wastewater into lands, open water reservoirs, arable lands, as well as failures and accidents involving petroleum products, can cause serious consequences resulting from the highly toxic and carcinogenic nature of these substances. The article presents the possibilities of clay and cement binders application to reduce the migration of organic pollutants from heavily contaminated soils. The conducted research showed that in the case of heavily contaminated soils (e.g. from the Glasgow waste landfi ll) the penetration of aromatic and aliphatic hydrocarbons can be signifi cantly reduced. The part of aliphatic hydrocarbons, that migrated into the penetrating solutions during whole measurements time, did not exceed the standard requirements.