Five-Year Enhanced Natural Attenuation of Historically Coal-Tar-Contaminated Soil: Analysis of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon and Phenol Contents

Arkadiusz Telesiński and Anna Kiepas-Kokot
Additional contact information
Arkadiusz Telesiński: Department of Bioengineering, Faculty of Environmental Management and Agriculture, West Pomeranian University of Technology in Szczecin, Słowackiego Str. 17, 71-434 Szczecin, Poland
Anna Kiepas-Kokot: Department of Environmental Management, Faculty of Environmental Management and Agriculture, West Pomeranian University of Technology in Szczecin, Słowackiego Str. 17, 71-434 Szczecin, Poland

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 5, 1-15

Abstract: The objective of this study was to assess the soil pollution on an industrial wasteland, where coal-tar was processed in the period between 1880 and 1997, and subsequent to assess the decline in the content of phenols and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) during enhanced natural attenuation. The soil of the investigated area was formed from a layer of uncompacted fill. Twelve sampling points were established in the investigated area for collecting soil samples. A study conducted in 2015 did not reveal any increase in the content of heavy metals, monoaromatic hydrocarbons (BTEX), and cyanides. However, the content of PAHs and phenols was higher than the content permitted by Polish norms in force until 2016. In the case of PAHs, it was observed for individual compounds and their total contents. Among the various methods, enhanced natural attenuation was chosen for the remediation of investigated area. Repeated analyses of the contents of phenols and PAHs were conducted in 2020. The results of the analyses showed that enhanced natural attenuation has led to efficient degradation of the simplest substances—phenol and naphthalene. The content of these compounds in 2020 was not elevated compared to the standards for industrial wastelands. The three- and four-ring hydrocarbons were degraded at a lower intensity. Based on the mean decrease in content after 5-year enhanced natural attenuation, the compounds can be arranged in the following order: phenols > naphthalene > phenanthrene > fluoranthene > benzo(a)anthracene > chrysene > anthracene.

Keywords: naphthalene; PAHs; phenols; remediation; soil (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/5/2265/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/5/2265/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:5:p:2265-:d:505530

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().