This study aimed at combining iron and peat to produce a sorbent suitable for a simultaneous removal of cations and anions from a solution. Peat powder, an industrial residue, was coated with iron by immersing peat into iron salt solutions. The adsorption efficiency of the newly produced sorbent towards As, Cr, Cu and Zn was tested by means of batch adsorption experiments at a constant pH value of 5. Coating of Fe on peat significantly increased the adsorption of As (from <5% to 80%) and Cr (from <3% to 25%) in comparison to uncoated peat. Removal of cations on coated peat slightly decreased (by 10-15%), yet remained within acceptable range. Electron Microscopy combined with X-Ray Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy revealed that iron coating on the peat was rather homogenous and As and Cr were abundantly adsorbed on the surface. By contrast, Cu and Zn displayed a sparing distribution on the surface of the iron coated peat. These results indicate that iron-peat simultaneously target sufficient amounts of both cations and anions and can be used for a one-step treatment of contaminated groundwater.

Some of the older Swedish roads contain road tar underneath a surface layer of bituminous asphalt. This road tar, also known as tar asphalt, contains large amounts of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). There is concern about PAHs spreading from the bottom layers of these older roads to the surrounding environment, and that because of this spreading road tar asphalt should not be recycled but rather placed in landfills. However, a risk assessment of PAH spreading below roads has not yet been conducted. The first aim of this study was to assess this potential spreading of PAHs from underlying tar asphalt to the sand beneath, the soil next to the roads, as well as nearby groundwater. The second aim was to measure the bioavailability and estimate the toxicity of PAHs in all relevant media using polyoxymethylene (POM) passive samplers. Four road sections and nearby groundwater in northern Sweden were investigated, including a control road without tar asphalt. PAHs were detected in all analysed solid media at varying concentrations: in asphalt from 2.3 to 4800 mg kg^-1, in underlying sand from <1.5 to 460 mg kg^-1 and in slope soil from <1.5 to 36 mg kg^-1. However, the spread of PAHs from the asphalt to roadside soil and groundwater was very limited. Groundwater at most of the road sections contained very low or non-detectable levels of PAHs (1200 mg kg^-1 exhibited bioavailable concentrations that exceeded threshold concentrations for serious risk. The most PAH contaminated sand and soil samples exhibited low toxicity when considering bioavailability, only in some cases exceeding chronic toxicity threshold concentrations. These results were compared with the Swedish EPA's guideline values for PAH in contaminated soil, which is shown to overpredict toxicity for these sites. Further research on the leaching and transportation processes of PAHs from subsurface tar asphalt is recommended for developing risk analysis approaches.

This paper presents experimental results from the use of biosurfactants in the remediation of a soil from a smelter in Poland. In the soil, concentrations of Cu (1659.1 mg/kg) and Pb (290.8 mg/kg) exceeded the limit values. Triple batch washing was tested as a soil treatment. Three main variants were used, each starting with a different plant-derived (saponin, S; tannic acid, T) or microbial (rhamnolipids, R) biosurfactant solution in the first washing, followed by 9 different sequences using combinations of the tested biosurfactants (27 in total). The efficiency of the washing was determined based on the concentration of metal removed after each washing (C_R), the cumulative removal efficiency (E_cumulative) and metal stability (calculated as the reduced partition index, I_r, based on the metal fractions from BCR sequential extraction). The type of biosurfactant sequence influenced the C_R values. The variants that began with S and R had the highest average E_cumulative for Cu and Pb, respectively. The E_cumulative value correlated very strongly (r > 0.8) with the stability of the residual metals in the soil. The average E_cumulative and stability of Cu were the highest, 87.4% and 0.40, respectively, with the S-S-S, S-S-T, S-S-R and S-R-T sequences. Lead removal and stability were the highest, 64–73% and 0.36–0.41, respectively, with the R-R-R, R-R-S, R-S-R and R-S-S sequences. Although the loss of biosurfactants was below 10% after each washing, sequential washing with biosurfactants enriched the soil with external organic carbon by an average of 27-fold (S-first variant), 24-fold (R first) or 19-fold (T first). With regard to environmental limit values, metal stability and organic carbon resources, sequential washing with different biosurfactants is a beneficial strategy for the remediation of smelter-contaminated soil with given properties.