Remediation of electronic waste polluted soil using a combination of persulfate oxidation and chemical washing

Fu Chen; Zhanbin Luo; Gangjun Liu; Yongjun Yang; Shaoliang Zhang; Jing Ma

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2017.08.050

Remediation of electronic waste polluted soil using a combination of persulfate oxidation and chemical washing

J Environ Manage. 2017 Dec 15;204(Pt 1):170-178. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2017.08.050. Epub 2017 Sep 4.

Authors

Fu Chen¹, Zhanbin Luo², Gangjun Liu³, Yongjun Yang⁴, Shaoliang Zhang², Jing Ma⁵

Affiliations

¹ Low Carbon Energy Institute, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221008, China; School of Environment Science and Spatial Informatics, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221043, China; School of Mathematical and Geospatial Sciences, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University, Melbourne 3000, Australia.
² School of Environment Science and Spatial Informatics, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221043, China.
³ School of Mathematical and Geospatial Sciences, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University, Melbourne 3000, Australia.
⁴ Low Carbon Energy Institute, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221008, China; School of Environment Science and Spatial Informatics, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221043, China.
⁵ Low Carbon Energy Institute, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221008, China. Electronic address: jingmacumt@163.com.

PMID: 28881326
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2017.08.050

Abstract

Laboratory experiments were conducted to investigate the efficiency of a simultaneous chemical extraction and oxidation for removing persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and toxic metals from an actual soil polluted by the recycling activity of electronic waste. Various chemicals, including hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HPCD), citric acid (CA) and sodium persulfate (SP) were applied synchronously with Fe²⁺ activated oxidation to enhance the co-removal of both types of pollutants. It is found that the addition of HPCD can enhance POPs removal through solubilization of POPs and iron chelation; while the CA-chelated Fe²⁺ activation process is effective for extracting metals and degrading residual POPs. Under the optimized reagent conditions, 69.4% Cu, 78.1% Pb, 74.6% Ni, 97.1% polychlorinated biphenyls, 93.8% polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and 96.4% polybrominated diphenylethers were removed after the sequential application of SP-HPCD-Fe²⁺ and SP-CA-Fe²⁺ processes with a duration of 180 and 240 min, respectively. A high dehalogenation efficiency (84.8% bromine and 86.2% chlorine) is observed, suggesting the low accumulation of halogen-containing organic intermediates. The remediated soil can satisfy the national soil quality standard of China. Collectively, co-contaminated soil can be remediated with reasonable time and capital costs through simultaneous application of persulfate oxidation and chemical extraction.

Keywords: Activator; Citric acid; Hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin; Persulfate oxidation.

MeSH terms

Chelating Agents / chemistry*
China
Citric Acid / chemistry*
Electronic Waste*
Environmental Restoration and Remediation
Oxidation-Reduction
Polychlorinated Biphenyls / analysis
Polychlorinated Biphenyls / chemistry*
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons
Recycling
Sodium Compounds / analysis
Sodium Compounds / chemistry*
Soil Pollutants / analysis*
Soil Pollutants / chemistry
Sulfates / analysis
Sulfates / chemistry*

Substances

Chelating Agents
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons
Sodium Compounds
Soil Pollutants
Sulfates
Citric Acid
Polychlorinated Biphenyls
sodium persulfate