Contaminated sediments are remediated in order to protect human health and the environment, with the additional benefit of using the treated sediments for other activities. Common for many polluted sediments is the contamination with several different pollutants, making remediation challenging with the need of different remedial actions for each pollutant. In this study, electrodialytic remediation (EDR) of sediments was found effective for simultaneous removal of heavy metals and organic pollutants for sediments from Arctic regions - Sisimiut in Greenland and Hammerfest in Norway. The influence of sediment properties and experimental settings on the remediation process was studied by employing multivariate analysis. The importance of the variables studied varied with the pollutant and based on these results it was possible to assess removal processes for the different pollutants. Desorption was found to be important for the removal of heavy metals and TBT, while photolysis was significant for removal of PAH, PCB and TBT. In addition, dechlorination was found to be important for the removal of PCB. The highest removal efficiencies were found for heavy metals, TBT and PCB (>40%) and lower removal efficiencies for PAH (<35%).
27 May 2017 in Environmental Science and Pollution Research
Phosphorus is a critical, irreplaceable raw material, and developing methods to recover P from secondary sources such as sewage sludge ash (SSA) is crucial. Two-compartment electrodialytic extraction (2C-ED) is one method where an electric DC field is applied to extract P and separate heavy metals simultaneously. Several process parameters influence 2C-ED, and they influence each other mutually. This paper explores chemometrics modeling to give insight into the 2C-ED process and, specifically, optimization of the experimental parameters towards 80% P extraction. A projections-to-latent-structures model was constructed based on new 2C-ED experiments conducted with one SSA type. The model was stable (high correlation factor and predictive power). Variable importance in the projection (VIP) plots showed that the influence of the variables was in the order: current > duration > L:S ratio > stirring velocity > dispersion solution (weak acid or distilled water). Contour plots were used for exploring different P extraction strategies. For example, more P mass per unit current was extracted at an L:S ratio of 7 compared to L:S 14. This shows that treating a thicker SSA suspension is preferable to optimize the current efficiency. The chemometric model proved valuable for optimizing the 2C-ED process and future scale-up.