Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Aug 17;17(16):5952.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph17165952.

Removal of Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons from Contaminated Soil through Microwave Irradiation

Kanghee Cho  1 , Eunji Myung  2 , Hyunsoo Kim  2 , Oyunbileg Purev  2 , Cheonyoung Park  2 , Nagchoul Choi  1
Affiliations

Removal of Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons from Contaminated Soil through Microwave Irradiation

Kanghee Cho et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

In this study, we investigated the removal mechanism of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) from soil by microwave heating. TPH contaminated soil was investigated to determine the desorption behavior of five carbon number-based fractions of TPH. The applied operating microwave power density influenced the final temperature that was reached during heating. For low operating power density applications, microwave effectiveness was limited due to the soil's dielectric properties, which exhibited a direct relationship with temperature variation. Soil particle distribution could be attributed to permeability, which significantly influenced the evaporation of contaminated soil during the microwave treatment. The results indicate that the activation energy was correlated with the influence of particle size. The removal efficiency of the coarse soil reached 91.1% at 15 min, whereas that of fine soil was low. A total of 30 min had passed, and a removal efficiency of 71.2% was found for the fine soil. Residual TPH concentration was decreased when irradiation time was increased with a removal rate dependent on soil temperature variation. The surface functional groups of the contaminated soil were influenced by microwave irradiation, and changes in the hydrocarbon fraction affected contaminant removal.

Keywords: microwave; particle size; power density; total petroleum hydrocarbons; vapor stripping.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure A1
Figure A1
XRD pattern of soil sample.
Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic of laboratory-scale microwave apparatus.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Temperature profiles of soil for (a) microwave power density and (b) different particle sizes with time during microwave irradiation.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Residue concentration of different fractions in TPH as function of treatment time for different particle sizes. (a) Coarse soil (>0.106 mm) and (b) fine soil (<0.106 mm).
Figure 4
Figure 4
(a) Temperature, weight loss, and residual concentration from contaminated bulk soil with irradiation time. (b) FTIR spectra of soil sample before and after microwaves.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Concentration of different fraction on (a) soil and (b) condensate in TPH as a function of treatment time.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Karer J., Wawra A., Zehetner F., Dunst G., Wagner M., Pavel P.-B., Puschenreiter M., Friesl-Hanl W., Soja G. Effects of Biochars and Compost Mixtures and Inorganic Additives on Immobilisation of Heavy Metals in Contaminated Soils. Water Air Soil Pollut. 2015;226:342. doi: 10.1007/s11270-015-2584-2. - DOI
    1. Das A.J., Kumar R. Bioremediation of petroleum contaminated soil to combat toxicity on Withania somnifera through seed priming with biosurfactant produci ng plant growth promoting rhizobacteria. J. Environ. Manag. 2016;174:79–86. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2016.01.031. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Pinedo J., Ibañez R., Lijzen J., Irabien A. Assessment of soil pollution based on total petroleum hydrocarbons and individual oil substances. J. Environ. Manag. 2013;130:72–79. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2013.08.048. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Falciglia P.P., De Guidi G., Catalfo A., Vagliasindi F.G.A. Remediation of soils contaminated with PAHs and nitro-PAHs using microwave irradiation. Chem. Eng. J. 2016;296:162–172. doi: 10.1016/j.cej.2016.03.099. - DOI
    1. Li D.-C., Xu W.-F., Mu Y., Yu H.-Q., Jiang H., Crittenden J. Remediation of Petroleum-Contaminated Soil and Simultaneous Recovery of Oil by Fast Pyrolysis. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2018;52:5330–5338. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.7b03899. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources