Title: Soil treatment by solvent extraction and catalytic hydrodehalogenation

Authors: Hun-Young Wee; Jeffrey A. Cunningham

Addresses: Doosan Hydro Technology, 912 Chad Lane, Tampa, FL 33619, USA ' Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of South Florida, 4202 East Fowler Avenue, Tampa, FL 33620, USA

Abstract: We investigated the extraction of halogenated hydrophobic organic contaminants (HHOCS) from soil, and the subsequent catalytic hydrodehalogenation of extracted HHOCs. We used water/ethanol mixtures as the solvent and pentachlorophenol and 1,2,4,5-tetrachlorobenzene as target contaminants. The efficiency of extraction improved with increasing contact time and/or increasing ethanol fraction in the solvent, but, surprisingly, did not improve with increasing solvent volume. Tetrachlorobenzene extracted from the contaminated soil could be dehalogenated catalytically, with no apparent interference or inhibition caused by the extraction process. This suggests that a proposed new remediation technology (called remedial extraction and catalytic hydrodehalogenation, or REACH) should be technically viable.

Keywords: soil contamination; solvent extraction; ethanol; palladium; catalyst; dechlorination; hydrodehalogenation; tetrachlorobenzene; pentachlorophenol; remediation; enviornmental pollution; halogenated hydrophobic organic contaminants.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEWM.2013.050520

International Journal of Environment and Waste Management, 2013 Vol.11 No.1, pp.59 - 74

Received: 27 Apr 2009
Accepted: 11 Jul 2009
Published online: 20 Sep 2014 *

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