Remediation of Toxic Heavy Metal Contaminated Soil by Combining a Washing Ejector Based on Hydrodynamic Cavitation and Soil Washing Process

Hyunsoo Kim, Kanghee Cho, Oyunbileg Purev, Nagchoul Choi and Jaewon Lee
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Hyunsoo Kim: Department of Energy and Resource Engineering, Chosun University, Gwangju 61452, Korea
Kanghee Cho: Research Institute of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Korea
Oyunbileg Purev: Department of Energy and Resource Engineering, Chosun University, Gwangju 61452, Korea
Nagchoul Choi: Research Institute of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Korea
Jaewon Lee: JIU Corporation, Seoul 07528, Korea

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 2, 1-14

Abstract: Based on the features of hydrodynamic cavitation, in this study, we developed a washing ejector that utilizes a high-pressure water jet. The cavitating flow was utilized to remove fine particles from contaminated soil. The volume of the contaminants and total metal concentration could be correlated to the fine-particle distribution in the contaminated soil. These particles can combine with a variety of pollutants. In this study, physical separation and soil washing as a two-step soil remediation strategy were performed to remediate contaminated soils from the smelter. A washing ejector was employed for physical separation, whereas phosphoric acid was used as the washing agent. The particles containing toxic heavy metals were composed of metal phase encapsulated in phyllosilicates, and metal phase weakly bound to phyllosilicate surfaces. The washing ejector involves the removal of fine particles bound to coarse particles and the dispersion of soil aggregates. From these results we determined that physical separation using a washing ejector was effective for the treatment of contaminated soil. Phosphoric acid (H 3 PO 4 ) was effective in extracting arsenic from contaminated soil in which arsenic was associated with amorphous iron oxides. Thus, the obtained results can provide useful information and technical support for field soil washing for the remediation of soil contaminated by toxic heavy metals through emissions from the mining and ore processing industries.

Keywords: washing ejector; cavitation; soil washing; phosphoric acid; heavy metals (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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