CONTAMINATED SOIL TREATMENT, SOIL WASHING, SOIL CLEANING, SOIL SEPARATION AND SEDIMENT TREATMENT
Industrial and Superfund Site Soil Treatment
ART Engineering
(ART) has worked on a wide range of large contaminated soil cleaning projects
for industrial clients and governmental agencies throughout the
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PCB, Heavy Metal Soil Washing at Springfield Township Superfund Site |
Lead Separation and Removal at Lordship Point Skeet Shooting Range |
Click here to view complete list of Soil Treatment Projects.
Soil Washing Technology Background
Soil washing typically incorporates particle size separation during washing. Particle size separation is usually effective treatment step since many organic and inorganic contaminants have a tendency to bind to clay, silt, and organic soil particles. Washing separates fine clay and silt particles from the coarser sand and gravel soil particles, effectively separating and concentrating the contaminants into a smaller volume consisting of the clay and silt fraction. This fraction can be managed by further treatment or disposal. Additional treatment of the sand fraction through scrubbing, flotation, surfactant washing, density separation, magnetic separation or chemical extraction is used as needed to meet site-specific treatment standards. The cleaned sand and gravel fraction can be returned to the site.
The soil washing treatment systems used by ART are based on standard physical and or chemical separation processes that were originally developed in the mineral processing and mining industries. Such techniques have been used successfully for polluted soil treatment involving removal of heavy metal(-s) and organic contaminants from the soils. Soil treatment may include any combination of technologies including (but not limited to): soil separation, density separation (metals removal), attrition scrubbing, flotation (effective for PAH, Pesticides, Dioxin) and surfactant washing. In some cases, (mild) chemical extraction using acids, alkalis, and complexing agents may be used. Because each project varies in the soil type, contamination type, and treatment needs to be cost effective, the soil treatment solution from site-to-site is unique. ART Engineering has a proven track record of adjusting to different site conditions and meeting site specific remediation goals for each project.
Applicability
The soil washing process best applied to soil and sediment(-s) containing
less than 25 % fines (fraction less than 400 mesh).
Soil washing can be used for cleaning of a wide range of organic, heavy metal and radionuclide contaminants including:
| Group | Contaminants |
| Semi-Volatile Constituents (SVOC) | Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCB’s), Polynuclear Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH), Hydrocarbon, Crude Oil, Phthalate (-s), Dioxins, Pesticides, Herbicides and other SVOC |
Heavy Metals |
Arsenic, Chromium, Copper, Nickel, Cadmium, Lead and other heavy metals |
Radionuclides |
Uranium, Cesium, Thorium, Radium and other Radionuclides |
Project Feasibility - Treatability Study
It is important to determine the feasibility of a soil or sediment treatment process through means of a Soil Treatment Treatability Study.