Remediation of Simulated Soils Contaminated with Diesel
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 125, Issue 1
Abstract
Soil venting has been shown to be an effective method to remediate soils contaminated with hydrocarbons. In this study diesel fuel was used as the only contaminant and several one-dimensional experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of preheating the air in a soil venting system at two different flow rates and inlet air temperatures. Temperature readings of thermocouples located in the test section of the experimental setup were recorded during the experiments. The effluent gas samples were extracted at selected times and analyzed with the help of a gas chromatography system. The experimental results were also used to validate the model of Lingineni and Dhir for diesel fuel. The model includes energy balance and conservation of mass equations as well as diffusional resistance experienced by various species in the liquid phase. In exercising the model, diesel fuel was subdivided into five components. The experimental results show that the diesel fuel components were removed according to their volatility, with the higher volatility components being removed first. It was found that preheating the venting air, as well as increasing the venting air flow rate, can significantly increase the removal rates of the diesel fuel components. The measured temperatures and removal rates of diesel components have been found to be in good agreement with the predictions from the model. For a 22-cm-tall and 11.4-cm-diameter test section, in which the flow rate varied from 0.396 m3/h [14 standard cubic feet per hour (SCFH)] to 1.188 m3/h (42 SCFH) and inlet air temperature varied from 60 to 90°C, the time for complete removal of contaminant was found to be between 80 and 360 h.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 125 • Issue 1 • January 1999
Pages: 36 - 46
History
Received: Nov 4, 1997
Published online: Jan 1, 1999
Published in print: Jan 1999
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