Mobile System for Extracting Spilled Hazardous Materials from Excavated Soils

摘要

Laboratory tests were conducted with three separate pollutants (phenol, arsenic trioxide, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB's) and two soils of widely different characteristics (sand/gravel/silt/clay and organic loam) to evaluate techniques for cleansing soil contaminated with released or spilled hazardous materials. The tests show that scrubbing of excavated soil on site is an efficient approach for freeing soils of certain contaminants but that the effectiveness depends on the washing fluid (water + additives) and on the soil composition and particle size distribution. Based on the test results, a full-scale, field-use system was designed, engineered, fabricated, assembled, and briefly tested; the unit is now ready for field demonstrations.