The demand for processed petroleum products and agricultural produce has exposed our environment to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) contamination. PAHs stick to solid sediments and are ubiquitous including soil, water and air. Their presence in these media creates problems because consuming products obtained from these sources could be deleterious to human health since several of these compounds (benz(a)anthracene, benzo(a)pyrene, chrysene etc) have been implicated in causing tumors in animals and cancer in humans. The present review describes several remediation techniques which are efficient and cost effective in removing PAHs from the environment. Some of these conventional clean-up methods are not only environmental friendly; they also present a novel approach in reducing the ability of PAHs to cause prospective risk to humans and the ecosystem.
The ability of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) to adsorped polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from contaminated soil leachate was examined. Results obtained from analysis using GC/FID indicated that naphthalene (8.350 ?g/g) was the overall highest polycylic aromatic hydrocarbon adsorped at pH 4.0, while pyrene (0.057 ?g/g) was the least adsorped polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon overall at pH 6.0. In ascending the pH from 2.0 to 6.0, there wasn’t any trend observed in PAH degradation, though, it was noted that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons degradation increased from pH 2.0 to 4.0, and then, sharply decreased at pH 6.0. This results thus lend credence to the fact that E. crassipes is a potential phytoremediator in removing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from contaminated waste streams.
The effect of progressive acidification using inorganic and organic acids in chemical leaching of sewage sludge was studied. Results of analyses using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS) showed that Mn was the most metal solubilized totaling 4.760 and 4.220 mg/l using 30 % (v/v) HNO3 and 50 % (v/v) acetic acids respectively for digestion, while Cd (0.038 and 0.027 mg/l) was the least metal extracted using 10 % (v/v) H2SO4 and 50 % (v/v) benzoic acid respectively for digestion. HCl was generally observed to be the best extraction medium for the metals; Cd, Mn, Pb, Ni, and Cu at all acid range 10-90 % (v/v) concentrations. However, comparing the leaching capability of both acids type, the inorganic acids were observed to be more effective than organic acids in leaching heavy metals from sewage sludge.
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