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Remediation of Hydrocarbon-Contaminated Soil by Washing with Novel Chemically Modified Humic Substances.

Remediation of Hydrocarbon-Contaminated Soil by Washing with Novel Chemically Modified Humic Substances.

Journal of environmental quality (2015-12-08)

César García-Díaz, Antonio Nebbioso, Alessandro Piccolo, Josefina Barrera-Cortés, Rafael Martínez-Palou

ABSTRACT

In this work, humic (HA) and fulvic acid (FA) were chemically modified by esterification and etherification with alkanes under microwave (MW) irradiation to improve their surfactant properties for the remediation of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs)-contaminated soil. Humic acid and FA were evaluated as surfactant for the remediation of soil by means of washing an aged highly TPH-contaminated soil (50,000 mg TPH kg) sampled from a Mexican petrochemical area. The efficiency of chemical modification of HA and FA was increased and accelerated under MW irradiation with respect to that of conventional heating. Results showed that modified HA and FA were able to considerably reduce the contamination of TPH-polluted soils. The best results were obtained with HA modified by esterification with -dodecanol and FA modified with -decanol, which increased the hydrocarbon removal by 24 and 18%, respectively, with respect to amounts removed by the unmodified derivatives.

MATERIALS

Product Number

Brand

Product Description

Sigma-Aldrich

Acetone, suitable for HPLC, ≥99.9%

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1-Octanol, natural, ≥98%, FCC

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1-Octanol, anhydrous, ≥99%

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1-Octanol, ≥98%, FCC, FG

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1-Bromopentane, 98%

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Acetone, ≥99%, meets FCC analytical specifications

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Methanesulfonic acid solution, 4 M (with 0.2% (w/v) tryptamine)

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Methanesulfonic acid solution, 70 wt. % in H₂O

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Methanesulfonic acid, ≥99.0%

Supelco

Dichloromethane solution, certified reference material, 5000 μg/mL in methanol

Supelco

Dichloromethane solution, contains 10 % (v/v) methanol

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Acetone, natural, ≥97%

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1-Octanol, ACS reagent, ≥99%

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Acetone, histological grade, ≥99.5%

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1-Octanol, ReagentPlus^®, 99%

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Acetone, ACS reagent, ≥99.5%

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Acetone, Laboratory Reagent, ≥99.5%

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Acetone, ACS reagent, ≥99.5%

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Acetone, puriss., meets analytical specification of Ph. Eur., BP, NF, ≥99% (GC)

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Acetone, puriss. p.a., ACS reagent, reag. ISO, reag. Ph. Eur., ≥99.5% (GC)

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Dichloromethane, contains 40-150 ppm amylene as stabilizer, ACS reagent, ≥99.5%

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Dichloromethane, ACS reagent, ≥99.5%, contains 40-150 ppm amylene as stabilizer

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Dichloromethane, puriss., meets analytical specification of Ph. Eur., NF, ≥99% (GC)

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Dichloromethane, anhydrous, ≥99.8%, contains 40-150 ppm amylene as stabilizer

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Dichloromethane, suitable for HPLC, ≥99.9%, contains 40-150 ppm amylene as stabilizer

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Dichloromethane, puriss. p.a., ACS reagent, reag. ISO, ≥99.9% (GC)

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