Remediation of Coal Tar–Contaminated Soil by Smoldering Combustion Using Vegetable Oils as Supplemental Fuel
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 148, Issue 9
Abstract
This study explored the remediation of coal tar–contaminated sand with smoldering combustion using vegetable oil as supplemental fuel. In this work, bench-scale column experiments were conducted one factor at a time to identify the minimum concentration limit of coal tar and the feasibility of vegetable oil as supplemental fuel. A range of key parameters including various concentrations of vegetable oil (), types of vegetable oil (sunflower, soybean, and corn oils), and oil to coal tar mass ratios that affect smoldering combustion were examined in detail. Results demonstrated that exceeding 80,000 mg coal tar in 1 kg sand caused smoldering exceeding 630°C. The posttreatment coal tar concentration in treated sand was , indicating more than 99% initial coal tar was destroyed. Further, corn oil was a relative suitable supplemental fuel, which possessed higher average peak temperature and removal efficiency. To be specific, the sum of the concentration of corn oil and coal tar reaching was found to be a necessary requirement to determine whether smoldering combustion occurred or not; in addition, the content of coal tar was not less than . Overall, this study indicated that smoldering with injection of vegetable oil has potential to be effective in situ remediation application for low-concentration coal tar–impacted sand ().
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Data Availability Statement
All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article.
Acknowledgments
Major Science and Technology Project of Water Body Pollution Control and Treatment (Project No. 2018ZX07111001).
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Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 148 • Issue 9 • September 2022
Copyright
© 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 22, 2021
Accepted: Mar 26, 2022
Published online: Jun 29, 2022
Published in print: Sep 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Nov 29, 2022
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Agriculture
- Business management
- Chemical processes
- Chemistry
- Coal
- Combustion
- Crops
- Energy engineering
- Energy sources (by type)
- Environmental engineering
- Fuels
- Geomechanics
- Geotechnical engineering
- Irrigation engineering
- Mine wastes
- Mitigation and remediation
- Non-renewable energy
- Oils
- Petroleum
- Pollutants
- Practice and Profession
- Sandy soils
- Soil mechanics
- Soils (by type)
- Wastes
- Water and water resources
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