Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Commons^™

Theory And Application Of Landfarming To Remediate Pahs And Mineral Oil Contaminated Sediments: Beneficial Reuse, J. Harmsen, W. Rulkens, Ronald C. Sims, P. Ritjema, A. Zweers

Biological Engineering Faculty Publications

When applying landfarming for the remediation of contaminated soil and sediment, a fraction of the soil-bound contaminant is rapidly degraded; however, a residual concentration may remain, which slowly degrades. Degradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and mineral oil can be described using a multi-compartment model and first-order kinetics, in which three degradable fractions are distinguished; (1) rapid, (2) slowly, and (3) very slowly degradable. Using this model populated with data from long-term experiments (initiated in 1990), it is shown that time frames from years to decades can be necessary to clean the soil or sediment to obtain a target below …