Metallurgy is an industrial activity that is one of the largest contributors to soil contamination by metals. This contamination is often associated with organic compound contamination; however, little research has been aimed at the development of simultaneous processes for decontamination as opposed to treatments to heavy metals or organic compounds alone. This paper presents an efficient process to decontaminate the soils polluted with smelting by-products rich in Cu, Zn and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). A simultaneous treatment for metals and PAHs was also tested. The process is mainly based on physical techniques, such as crushing, gravimetric separation and attrition. For the finest particle size fractions, an acid extraction with H2SO4 was used to remove metals. The PAH removal was enhanced by adding surfactant during attrition. The total metal removals varied from 49% to 73% for Cu and from 43% to 63% for Zn, whereas a removal yield of 92% was measured for total PAHs. Finally, a technical-economic evaluation was done for the two processes tested.
The environmental assessment and management of historical mining sites contaminated with various inorganic species require a better knowledge of pollutant-bearing phases. Among elements present in mining soils, arsenic is a toxic metalloid with potential high content and high mobility capacity into the environment. The objective of this paper was to investigate the mobility and fractionation of arsenic (As) in a highly As contaminated soil (ca. 3 wt%). The soil was collected from an old gold mining site in France, where mining activities and smelting processes of gold ores took place.
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