Remediation of granitic soils contaminated by MTBE using SVE –

a case study
M. Carvalho (1), A. Fiúza (2), T.Oliva-Teles (1), C. M. Delerue-Matos (1), J. T. Albergaria (1),
(1) REQUIMTE, Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto, Rua Dr. António Bernardino de Almeida 431, 4200-072 Porto, Portugal.
(2) CIGAR, Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal.

INTRODUCTION
Soil contamination is a common problem in our society. Several parameters such as the properties of soil and contaminant and This poster presents the results of the experiments performed at
activities release contaminants into the soil affecting its quality the operating conditions, namely the vacuum pressure and the the laboratory using this soil with controlled MTBE
and future utilization. To reverse this situation and to avoid extracted flow rate. contaminations. These experiments aimed to study the influence
further spreading of the contaminant several remediation Methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) is one of the most widely used of the initial soil water content in the adsorption of MTBE and in
technologies have been used. Soil vapour extraction (SVE) has gasoline additive acting as oxygenate. It is one of the many diesel the efficiency of the remediation using SVE.
been the most used alternative for soils contaminated with components. MTBE is an organic compound with high vapour
volatile or semi-volatile organic compounds located in the pressure (245 mm Hg at 25ºC) and high water solubility (42 g/L at
unsaturated zone. The efficiency of SVE depends on several 25 ºC)

MATERIALS AND METHODS

SOIL PREPARATION EQUILIBRIUM ISOTHERMS SOIL VAPOUR EXTRACTION

Cutting Soil preparation
Adding 30g of soil to the
vials
Drying (T=40ºC)
Airflow selection
Compacting

Water
Contamination Soil
determination
remediation

Equilibrium
Cgas below 1,0 mg /L
Water addition
Soil
End of
GC Analysis preparation remediation
SOIL SAMPLE WITH DIFFERENT
WATER CONTENT CONTAMINANT DISTRIBUTION CALCULATION OF REMEDIATION TIME Figure 3
Figure 1 EQUILIBRIUM ISOTHERMS AND PROCESS EFFICIENCY
Figure 2

RESULTS

EQUILIBRIUM ISOTHERMS SOIL SAMPLE

The equilibrium isotherms correlate the contaminant concentration in the soil matrix (aqueous, solid and non The sample used in these experiments was collected in Oporto region (41º12’37.92’’N;
aqueous liquid phases) – Cmat – with the corresponding contaminant concentration in the gaseous phase – Cgas. 8º37’47.58’’W) being a granitic soil with approximately 7% of clays, 28% of silts, 60% of
An equilibrium isotherm was experimentally determined for all the pre-defined water contents. sands and 5% of gravel. The soil conductivity at 25ºC was 66 μS/cm and the pH was
4.56; the organic matter was very low (<0,81%).

SOIL VAPOUR EXTRACTION

y = 0,0039x
Isotérmicas Lineares: R² = 0,9957 Isotérmicas Não Lineares:
y = 0,0031x y = 0,0472x0,5612
1,6 R² = 0,9958 1,6000 R² = 0,9662

1,4
y = 0,0027x
R² = 0,9946 1,4000
y = 0,0198x0,657
To perform the SVE experiments, 2000 g of soil were introduced in a stainless steel
y = 0,0026x + 0,0637 W = 12% R² = 0,994
column in 4 consecutive fractions of 500 g. Each layer was compacted before adding the
Cmat (g MTBE / kg Soil)

R² = 0,9953
1,2 W = 10 % 1,2000
Cmat (g MTBE / kg Soil)

W=8%
1
W = 6%
1,0000 next one. The column was then closed and 6,35 mL of MTBE were added with a syringe.
W=2%
0,8 Linear (W = 12%)

Linear (W = 10 %)
0,8000
W = 4%
The column was left at a constant temperature (22ºC) until equilibrium was reached.
0,6 Linear (W = 8 %) 0,6000 De Potência (W = 2
%)
De Potência (W =
During SVE the MTBE concentration in the gas phase emissions (A of figure 3) were
Linear (W = 6%)
0,4 0,4000 4%)
monitored by Gas Chromatography (GC-FID Shimadzu 2010), using the direct calibration
0,2 0,2000
method. The remediation process was considered finished when the concentration of
0 0,0000
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 0 100 200 300 400 500 600
MTBE in the gas phase was below 1,0 mg / L. This time was considered as the duration
Cgas (mg MTBE / L gas) Cgas (mg MTBE / L gas)
of the remediation. Then, the column was left at the same temperature (22ºC) waiting
Figure 4 – Equilibrium isotherms. for a new equilibrium. The concentration of the resulting gas phase allows, using the
equilibrium isotherm, to estimate the corresponding efficiency.
CONCLUSIONS
For low water content the isotherms exhibit a non-linearity, in opposition to higher contents (>6%). For high moistures the behaviour is similar for contents of 6 and 8%. If the moisture increases, the isotherms
separate and the distance between them increase. This is probably due to the high solubility of MTBE in water.
The non-linearity of the isotherms at low moistures is specially originated at the lowest concentrations of MTBE which foresees that the solid fraction of the soil has also its own capacity of adsorption. Nevertheless,
the dissolution in water prevails over the solid sorption when the quantity of water is sufficient.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS REFERENCES
The authors are grateful to Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia Albergaria, J.T. et al., Soil vapor extraction in sandy and soils: Influence of airflow rate. Chemosphere (2008), doi:
(PTDC/ECM/68056/2006) for the material support for this work. 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2008.07.080.
Albergaria, J. T. (2003). “Extracção de Vapor para Remediação de Solos — Controlo dos Parâmetros que Limitam a
Descontaminação”. MSc thesis. Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, Porto.
European Fuel Oxygenate Association; http://www.efoa.org (September 2009)