Soil Pollution Control

1
Technologies - II

CHE-481-Environmental Engineering
Table of Contents 2

• Thermal treatment • Rhizofilteration

• Incineration • Phytodegradation
• Enhanced rhizosphere
• Thermal desorption biodegradation
• Vitrification • Phytovolatilization
• Biological remediation • Phytovolatilization of heavy
metals
• Phytoremediation • Plant mechanisms work together
• Phytoextraction • Advantages of
• Threshold for different metals phytoremediation
• Use of hyperaccumulators • Limitations of
• Mechanism of phytoextration phytoremediation

CHE-481-Environmental Engineering
 Oxidation
Photolysis

AOPs

Ion exchange 3
Adsorption

Chemical and Pump-and-treat

physical treatment
Chemical
dehalogination
Soil vapour
extraction
Soil washing

Soil flushing
Remediation
technology Solidification/
stabilization methods

Incineration

Thermal treatment Thermal desorption

Vitrification

CHE-481-Environmental Engineering In situ

Biological treatment
Ex situ
Thermal treatment 4

• Volatilisation and destruction of contaminants by thermal

treatment is a very effective technique .

• It is achieved by heating the contaminated soil in kilns to

temperatures between 400 and 700°C, followed by further
treatment of the kiln off gas at higher temperatures( 800- 1200°C)
to secure total oxidation of the organic volatile matter.

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1. Incineration 5

• In this technology, contaminants are combusted at high

temperatures (970°C - 1200°C) .
• It is particularly effective for halogenated and other refractory
organic pollutants.
• Properly operated incinerators may be of very high destruction and
removal efficiency (DRE) reaching to as much as 99.9 %, which is
normally required for PCB' s and dioxins.

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2. Thermal desorption 6

• Other than incineration, Thermal desorption (TD) technology aims

to physically separate the contaminants from the soil.
• TD involves the application of heat to contaminated soils with the
intention of volatilizing/desorbing hydrocarbons, which are then
carried away by a sweep gas or vacuum and eventually destroyed
via incineration or carbon adsorption.
• TD can be divided into low-temperature thermal desorption
(LTTD, 100–300 °C) and high-temperature thermal desorption
(HTTD, 300–550 °C).

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3. Vitrification 7

• In this process the contaminated soil is encapsulated into a monolithic mass of

glass.
• Vitrification may be carried out in situ or ex situ.
• Introducing graphite electrodes into the soil and heating it electrically by
powerful generators to temperatures between 1600-1800 °c perform in situ
Vitrification.
• At these temperatures the soil melts and forms a glass block on cooling.
• Organic contaminants are pyrolysed and reduced to gases during the melting
process, while heavy metals remain enclosed in the stabilised glass mass.
• This method has also been successfully used in treating soils contaminated by
radioactive materials.
• Vitrification may also be done in special appliances where contaminated soil
would be molten in presence of borosilicate and soda lime to form a solid glass
block.

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Biological remediation 8

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 Bioremediation
9

In situ Ex situ

Phyto- Microbial Slurry phase Solid phase

remediation bioremediation treatment treatment

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 In situ bioremediation

Microbial
10
Phytoremediation bioremediation

Phytoextraction Bioventing

Rhizofiltration Bioaugmentation

Phytodegradation Nano-bioremediation

Enhanced
rhizosphere
biodegradation

CHE-481-Environmental Engineering Phtovolatilization

Phytoremediation 11

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1. Phytoextraction 12

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Threshold for different metals 13

• A metal hyperaccumulator is a plant which, when grown in metal-

enriched habitats, can accumulate 100–1,000- fold the level of
metals than normal plants can.

• This corresponds to concentrations in aboveground tissues of:

• >10 mg g−1 (1 %) for Mn or Zn;
• >1 mg g−1 (0.1 %) for As, Co, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Sb, or Se
• >0.1 mg g−1 (0.01 %) for Cd

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Use of hyperaccumulators 14

Thlaspi caerulescens Brassica juncea

• For example, B. juncea, although with only one-third the
concentration of Zn in its tissues compared with T. caerulescens (a
known hyperaccumulator of Zn), is considered to be more effective
at removing Zn from soils.
• This advantage is primarily due to the fact that B. juncea produces
ten times more biomass than T. caerulescens .
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Mechanism of phytoextration 15

• Generally, only a small

fraction of the total content
Acidification of the
is readily available Secretion of
phytosiderophores
rhizosphere due to
(bioavailable), as most of the to chelate and
proton pumps and
exudation of
solubilize metals
metals are commonly found organic acids
as insoluble compounds or
are strongly bound to the soil
matrix. Bioavailability
of metals

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2. Rhizofilteration 16

• Rhizofilteration is a process • In rhizofiltration,the

through which a well developed contaminants are adsorbed or
root system is used as a filter for absorbed, i.e., plant roots
metals. precipitate and concentrate toxic
• This process takes place more metals from polluted effluents.
readily in water than in soil and
that is why it is mainly used to
extract metals or radioactive
matter from water.
• Other than in the
phytoextraction process, here
only the roots, where the metal
accumulation has taken place,
are harvested and disposed of.
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3. Phytodegradation 17

• Phytodegradation utilises
plants to uptake / degrade
organic contaminants in soils.
• Internal process: through
metabolic processes.
• External process: enzymes
breakdown contaminants.
• Examples: chlorinated solvents
and herbicides.

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4. Enhanced rhizosphere biodegradation 18

• Rhizodegradation refers to the

breakdown of contaminants
within the plant root zone, or
rhizosphere.
• Rhizodegradation is believed to
be carried out by bacteria or
other microorganism whose
members typically flourish in the
rhizosphere
• Microorganisms (yeast, fungi or
bacteria) consume and digest
organic substances for nutrition
and energy.
•
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5. Phytovolatilization 19

• Phytovolatilisation refers to plants being capable of

absorbing organic contaminants from the soil,
biologically converting them to gaseous species.
• Phytovolatilization is often considered beneficial, as
phytovolatilization of the contaminant generally
results in substantial dilution and photochemical
decay in the atmosphere.
• However, phytovolatilization may be viewed as a risk
in urban areas, where exposure potential exists and
air quality is degraded.

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Phytovolatilization of heavy metals 20

• This technique can also be used for some heavy metals like Hg and Se
because these metals can form volatile chemical species through
reduction and methylation reactions.
• Biological volatilization has the advantage of removing Se from a
contaminated site in relatively nontoxic forms, such as dimethylselenide
(DMSe).
• Nevertheless, phytovolatilization of Hg may cause secondary
contamination of the environment with Hg0.
• For this reason, another alternative to promote a higher efficiency of
phytoextraction could be the use of genetic engineering to integrate
genes from other organisms in plants so that they could accumulate Hg
without releasing Hg0 into the atmosphere.
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 Plant mechanisms work together
21

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Advantages of phytoremediation 22

• It can be applied to more multiple and mixed contaminants and

media.
• It is less costly and if properly managed is both environmentally
friendly and aesthetically pleasing to the public.

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Limitations of phytoremediation 23

• A longer time period is likely to be required for phytoremediation,

as this technology is dependent on plant growth rates for
establishment of an extensive root system or significant
aboveground biomass.
• Phytoremediation is most effective only at sites with shallow
contamination in the soils and/or sites with shallow water table.

CHE-481-Environmental Engineering
Summary 24

• Thermal treatment • Rhizofilteration

• Incineration • Phytodegradation
• Enhanced rhizosphere
• Thermal desorption biodegradation
• Vitrification • Phytovolatilization
• Biological remediation • Phytovolatilization of heavy
metals
• Phytoremediation • Plant mechanisms work together
• Phytoextraction • Advantages of
• Threshold for different metals phytoremediation
• Use of hyperaccumulators • Limitations of
• Mechanism of phytoextration phytoremediation

CHE-481-Environmental Engineering