Assessment of harbor sediment contamination for a path to valorize dredged material

Annually, over one billion m(3) of sediment are dredged worldwide to ensure safe access for ships to harbors. Dredged sediment from harbors, considered as waste, presents an interesting opportunity for sustainable development projects by valorizing it as construction material. Characterizing dredged material is a crucial step to confirm the feasibility of reusing marine sediment and identifying potential valorization pathways. However, previous studies have primarily focused on investigating dredged sediment properties at a physical, geotechnical, and mineralogical level, with limited analysis of the presence of chemical contaminants, despite their impact on assessing sediment quality as a substitute for construction aggregate. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the contamination of marine sediment dredged from Safi harbor, located in central Morocco in an urbanized and industrialized area. Determining the contaminant content in the sediment is a pre-requisite for the valorization process. To achieve this objective, the chemical characteristics of sediment collected from six different sampling points are studied. On one hand, the concentrations of the following trace metals are measured: Cadmium (Cd), Arsenic (As), Chromium (Cr), Nickel (Ni), Lead (Pb), Copper (Cu) and Zinc (Zn). On the other hand, Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons (TPH) and Total Organic Carbon (TOC) are analyzed. The results show that the reference values for the studied contaminants are not exceeded at the sampling points located in the port access channel. These findings indicate the potential for valorizing dredged sediment as an alternative source of construction materials.(c) 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of King Saud University.

Automated summary

This study evaluated the contamination of marine sediment dredged from Safi harbor in central Morocco. The results showed that the contamination levels of the studied contaminants did not exceed the reference values at the sampling points in the port access channel. Therefore, dredged sediment has the potential to be utilized as an alternative source of construction materials.