Preface
Soils and groundwater may be contaminated by a large number of hazardous
pollutants (both organic and inorganic compounds). The toxicity and the persisting
characters of most of these pollutants lead to consider them as serious threats toward
human health and the environment, requiring the application of remediation measures. Many established techniques are implemented to clean up, eliminate, recover,
or sequester these hazardous pollutants from contaminated sites. However, even if
many techniques are available and used at field scale, still, improved remediation
approaches are currently being developed and tested on-site. The objectives are the
reduction of the treatment costs as well as the improvement of remediation efficiencies. In this frame, this book provides a review on current research and development
approaches dedicated to contaminated site remediation technologies. The newly
developed remediation technologies for contaminated sites include bioremediation,
physical/chemical remediation, and integrated remediation processes. The fundamentals and applied aspects of different newly developed remediation approaches
are discussed and detailed in this book. Several case studies are also reported in
different chapters (i.e., Chaps. 1, 2, 3, and 6).
Chapter 1 provides the basic principles about the distribution of contaminants
between the soil compartments and the transfer kinetics between these pools.
Extracting agents (EAs), technologies, and methods used to mobilize priority contaminants are also reviewed by considering the performance, benefits, costs, and
risks when implemented on-site. Soil washing (SW) enhanced by the use of EAs is
seen as a promising technique for the removal of hydrophobic organic compounds
such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, petroleum hydrocarbons, chlorinated
solvents, and polychlorobiphenyls from contaminated soils.
Other contaminants such as organic liquids (i.e., nonaqueous phase liquids,
NAPLs) with low water solubility described as light NAPLs (i.e., LNAPLs) and
dense NAPLs (i.e., DNAPLs) are very often encountered on contaminated sites.
Removing free products is of primary importance for the remediation of such sites.
Conventional NAPL remediation consists of pumping the free product until residual
saturation is reached (i.e., no more NAPLs can be recovered). Decreasing this
v
Soils and groundwater may be contaminated by a large number of hazardous
pollutants (both organic and inorganic compounds). The toxicity and the persisting
characters of most of these pollutants lead to consider them as serious threats toward
human health and the environment, requiring the application of remediation measures. Many established techniques are implemented to clean up, eliminate, recover,
or sequester these hazardous pollutants from contaminated sites. However, even if
many techniques are available and used at field scale, still, improved remediation
approaches are currently being developed and tested on-site. The objectives are the
reduction of the treatment costs as well as the improvement of remediation efficiencies. In this frame, this book provides a review on current research and development
approaches dedicated to contaminated site remediation technologies. The newly
developed remediation technologies for contaminated sites include bioremediation,
physical/chemical remediation, and integrated remediation processes. The fundamentals and applied aspects of different newly developed remediation approaches
are discussed and detailed in this book. Several case studies are also reported in
different chapters (i.e., Chaps. 1, 2, 3, and 6).
Chapter 1 provides the basic principles about the distribution of contaminants
between the soil compartments and the transfer kinetics between these pools.
Extracting agents (EAs), technologies, and methods used to mobilize priority contaminants are also reviewed by considering the performance, benefits, costs, and
risks when implemented on-site. Soil washing (SW) enhanced by the use of EAs is
seen as a promising technique for the removal of hydrophobic organic compounds
such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, petroleum hydrocarbons, chlorinated
solvents, and polychlorobiphenyls from contaminated soils.
Other contaminants such as organic liquids (i.e., nonaqueous phase liquids,
NAPLs) with low water solubility described as light NAPLs (i.e., LNAPLs) and
dense NAPLs (i.e., DNAPLs) are very often encountered on contaminated sites.
Removing free products is of primary importance for the remediation of such sites.
Conventional NAPL remediation consists of pumping the free product until residual
saturation is reached (i.e., no more NAPLs can be recovered). Decreasing this
v