Byung-Dae Lee*, Keiko Hosaka* and Masaaki Hosomi*

* Department of Chemical Engineering, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology

+ Correspondence should be addressed to Byung-Dae Lee:
(2-24-16 Nakamachi, Koganei, Tokyo 184-8588 Japan)

Abstract

Ethanol washing (with distillation as a cleanup process) of benzo (a) pyrene (B (a) P) -contaminated soil was investigated in this study. A multistage-cascade-solvent washing process was applied to three different types of soil, i.e., sandy soil, alluvial soil, and ando soil, with an initial concentration of 10 and 100 mg B (a) P/kg soil. The ethanol used as the washing solvent was re-used after distillation. Satisfactory results (i.e. less than 1 mg B (a) P/kg soil, which is equivalent the Canadian soil standard for residential and park areas) for three types of soil with 10 and 100 mg/kg soil were obtained by washing the soil five-six times at most. It is suggested that the organic content in the soil decreased the efficiency of removal by ethanol washing.

Key words: Benzo (a) pyrene-contaminated soil, ethanol washing