Ultrasound-assisted soil washing processes using organic solvents for the remediation of PCBs-contaminated soils

Ultrasound effects on restricted silica gelation during silica extraction from Pyro-Metallurgical copper slag under acidifying conditions

Pyro-metallurgical copper slag (CS) waste was used as the source material for ultrasound (US) silica extraction under acidification processes with 26 kHz with HCl, HNO₃, and H₂SO₄ at different concentrations at 100, 300, and 600 W. During acidifying extraction processes, US irradiation inhibited silica gel formation under acidic conditions, especially at lower acid concentrations of less than 6 M, whereas a lack of US irradiation led to enhanced gelation. When US stopped, gelation occurred to a considerable degree, suggesting that the gel particle size distribution was aggregated in the 3-400 µm size range. However, with US, the size was mainly in the 1-10 µm range. Results of elemental analysis indicated that US treatment decreased the co-precipitation of other metal ions such as Fe, Cu, and Al sourced from CS for lower acidic medium, whereas the higher concentration medium accelerated silica gelation and the co-precipitation of other metals. With acids of HCl and HNO₃, and H₂SO₄, the gelations were less likely to occur at 6 M and 3 M during US irradiation, but acidic extraction without US was efficient for silica gelation and co-precipitation of other metals in the purified silica. The silica extraction yield with H₂SO₄ concentration of 3 M was 80% with 0.04% of Fe, whereas the silica product from HCl 6 M had a 90% extraction yield with only 0.08% of Fe impurity. In contrast, even though the non-US system of HCl 6 M had a higher yield at 96%, the final product had 0.5% Fe impurity, which was much higher than the US system. Consequently, the US extraction process was quite noticeable for silica recovery from CS waste.

Tween 80 assisted washing ciprofloxacin-contaminated soil, and recycled it using active chlorines

Active chlorines (ACs) can selectively oxidize contaminants with benzene rings to recycle surfactants, which greatly facilitates the resource cycle. This paper firstly utilized Tween 80 to assist in ex-situ washing the ciprofloxacin (CI) contaminated soil, including the solubilization experiment, shake washing and soil column washing, all of which showed that 2 g/L of Tween 80 (TW 80) was the most effective in removing CI. Then electrochemically treated the collected soil washing effluent (SWE) at 10 V with an electrolyte of 20 mM NaCl + 10 mM Na₂SO₄; Pre-experiments screened the range of electrode spacing, pH and temperature, based on which an orthogonal design Table L₉ (3⁴) was designed. Visual analysis and ANOVA were performed on the ciprofloxacin removal efficiency and Tween 80 retention efficiency during the orthogonal experiments in 9 groups, and the results showed that CI was usually degraded within 30 min, and 50% of TW 80 was still present at the end of the experiment, and there was no significant effect of all three factors. LC-MS demonstrated that CI was mainly degraded synergistically by ·OH and ACs, and ·OH effectively reduced the biotoxicity of the SWE, so the mixed electrolyte may be more suitable for the electrochemical recycling system of ACs. This paper conducted the washing remediation study of CI-contaminated soil for the first time, and applied the theory of selective oxidation by ACs on benzene ring to treat the SWE, which provides a new treatment idea for antibiotic-contaminated soil.

Effects of gas saturation and sparging on sonochemical oxidation activity in open and closed systems, Part I: H2O2 generation

Cavitational/sonochemical activity can be significantly enhanced or reduced depending on the gases dissolved in the liquid. Although many researchers have suggested the order of importance of dissolved gas conditions that affect the degree of sonoluminescence (SL), sonochemiluminescence (SCL), and compound degradation, the most suitable gas condition for sonochemical oxidation reactions is currently unknown. In this study (Part I), the effects of gas saturation and sparging on the generation of H₂O₂ were investigated in a 28-kHz sonoreactor system. Four gas modes, saturation/closed, saturation/open, sparging/closed, and sparging/open, were applied to Ar, O₂, N₂, and binary gas mixtures. The change in dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration during ultrasonic irradiation was measured and was used as an indicator of whether the gaseous exchange between liquid and air altered the gas content of the liquid. Considerable difference in the DO concentration was observed for the gas saturation/open mode, ranging from -11.5 mg/L (O₂ 100 %) to +4.3 mg/L (N₂ 100 %), while no significant difference was observed in the other gas modes. The change in the gas content significantly reduced the linearity for H₂O₂ generation, which followed pseudo-zero-order kinetics, and either positively or negatively affected H₂O₂ generation. Ar:O₂ (75:25) and Ar:O₂ (50:50) resulted in the highest and second-highest H₂O₂ generation for both gas saturation and sparging, respectively. In addition, gas sparging resulted in much higher H₂O₂ generation for all gas conditions compared to gas saturation; this was because of the significant change in the cavitational active zone and concentrated ultrasonic energy, which formed a bulb-shaped active zone, especially for the Ar/O₂ mixtures adjacent to the transducer at the bottom. The sparging flow rate and position also significantly affected H₂O₂ generation; the highest H₂O₂ generation was obtained when the sparger was placed at the bottom adjacent to the transducer, with a flow rate of 3 L/min. In Part II, the generation of nitrogen oxides, including nitrite (NO₂^-) and nitrate (NO₃^-), was investigated using the same ultrasonic system with three gas modes: saturation/open, saturation/closed, and sparging/closed.

A review for recent advances on soil washing remediation technologies

Contaminated soils have caused serious harm to human health and the ecological environment due to the high toxicity of organic and inorganic pollutants, which has attracted extensive attention in recent years. Because of its low cost, simple operation and high efficiency, soil washing technology is widely used to permanently remove various pollutants in contaminated soils and is considered to be the most promising remediation technology. This review summarized the recent developments in the field of soil washing technology and discusses the application of conventional washing agents, advanced emerging washing agents, the recycling of washing effluents and the combination of soil washing and other remediation technologies. Overall, the findings provide a comprehensive understanding of soil washing technology and suggest some potential improvements from a scientific and practical point of view.

Combination of Soxhlet extraction and catalytic hydrodebromination for remediation of tetrabromobisphenol A contaminated soil

As a widely used brominated flame retardants (BFRs), tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) has been detected in various environmental matrices and is known to cause negative effects on both the environment and human health. In this study, a combined method was developed for the abatement of TBBPA contaminated soil based on successive steps of solvent extraction (SE) and catalytic hydrodebromination (HDB) over Pd/C. The results showed that TBBPA could be efficiently extracted from the TBBPA contaminated soil with polar solvents. Subsequently, TBBPA could be completely hydrodebrominated over Pd/C in ethanol, via multistep ultimately yielding bisphenol A. Moreover, NaOH, NH₃H₂O, and Et₃N were more favorable to promote the HDB of 4-TBBPA over Pd/C, and 100% bromide atom removal ratio of TBBPA was achieved within 40 min when [NaOH]₀/[organic-Br]₀ was more than 1.10 in ethanol. However, the catalytic activity of Pd/C decreased with the repeated use in ethanol. To study the mechanism for this phenomenon, fresh and used catalysts were analyzed by characterization techniques including scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDS). It was found that the deactivation of Pd/C catalyst caused by the gradual accumulation of NaBr could be recovered by washing with water. On the basis of these studies, an effective and practical system for the combined method of SE and catalytic HDB over Pd/C was developed to dispose BFRs contaminated soils.

Quantification of sonochemical and sonophysical effects in a 20 kHz probe-type sonoreactor: Enhancing sonophysical effects in heterogeneous systems with milli-sized particles

Even though acoustic cavitation has been widely investigated, only few researchers focused on the relationship between sonochemical and sonophysical activities and on the enhancement of sonophysical activity. In this study, sonochemical and sonophysical activities were investigated in a heterogeneous system to understand the relationship between these two activities and to suggest optimal conditions for ultrasonic desorption/extraction processes comprising milli-sized glass beads. The sonochemical activity was quantitatively analyzed using potassium iodide dosimetry in homogeneous and heterogeneous systems. Sonophysical activity was quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed using paint-coated bead desorption tests and aluminum foil erosion tests under three probe positions of "T" (1 cm below the liquid surface), "B" (1 cm above the vessel bottom), and "M" (midpoint between "T" and "B"). Three different sizes of glass beads (diameter: 0.2, 1.0, and 4.0 mm) were used in this study. The highest sonochemical activity was obtained at "B" in both homogeneous and heterogeneous systems. However, three times lower sonochemical activity was observed in the heterogeneous system than in the homogeneous system because significant attenuation and unstable reflection of ultrasound occurred in the bead layer and suspension. Higher sonophysical activity was observed, when the bead size decreased and the probe approached the bottom. However, no significant sonophysical activity was detected when the beads were attached to the bottom. Therefore, the sonophysically active region was the zone around the probe body, opposite to the ultrasound irradiation tip, and only suspended beads could undergo severe cavitational actions. This was confirmed via aluminum foil tests. Several erosion marks on the foil were observed in the area around the probe body, whereas no severe damage was observed at the bottom. Moreover, the degree of sonophysical activity did not change for various saturating gases. This might be due to the different thresholds of sonochemical and sonophysical activities.