Oxidation by Fenton's reagent combined with biological treatment applied to a creosote-comtaminated soil

In this study, we investigated the feasibility of using Fenton oxidation to remove sorbed polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in aged soil samples with creosote oil from a wood preserving site. The optimal dosage of reagents was determined by a statistical method, the central composite rotatable experimental design. The maximum PAH removal was 80% with a molar ratio of oxidant/catalyst equal to 90: 1. In general low molecular weight PAHs (3 rings) were degraded more efficiently than higher molecular weight PAHs (4 and 5 rings). The hydrogen peroxide decomposition kinetic was studied in the presence of KH2PO4 as stabilizer. The kinetic data were fitted to a simple model, the pseudo-first-order which describes the hydrogen peroxide decomposition. The PAH kinetic degradation was also studied, and demonstrated that non-stabilized hydrogen peroxide was consumed in less than 30 min, whilst PAH removal continued for up to 24 h. In a second part of the work, a combined chemical and biological treatment of the soil was carried out and shown to be dependent on the pre-oxidation step. Different reagent doses (H2O2:Fe) were used (10, 20, 40, 60:1) in the pre-treatment step. An excess of hydrogen peroxide resulted in a poor biological removal, thus the optimal molar ratio of H2O2:Fe for the combined process was 20:1. The combined treatment resulted in a maximum total PAH removal of 75% with a 30% increase in removal due to the biodegradation step. The sample with highest PAH removal in the pre-oxidation step led to no further increase in removal by biological treatment. This suggests that the more aggressive chemical pre-oxidation does not favour biological treatment. The physico-chemical properties of the pollutants were an important factor in the PAH removal as they influenced chemical, biological and combined treatments. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.