A series of bench-scale tests were performed to determine the suitability of insitu soil mixing to treat clayey soils contaminated with chlorinated compounds and solvents at a site also used as a radioactive storage yard at Argonne National Laboratory-East near Chicago, Illinois. Soil mixing with hot air injection was proposed as the initial treatment and as the delivery system for a number of polishing techniques including zero valent metals, biological agents, potassium permanganate, humic acid, and soil vapor extraction. Batch tests were performed on soils samples using simulated soil mixing and hot air injection. Additional tests were performed on several polishing technique, after a portion of the volatile contaminates were removed by the hot air injection and soil mixing. The results were compared for removal efficiency and cost. It was found that about 50 to 80% of the contaminate mass was removed by hot air injection. The polishing techniques were used to increase treatment efficiencies to 70 to 99%. Soil vapor extraction and zero valent metals (iron filings) treatments provided the greatest short- term treatment efficiency. Proprietary combinations of treatments such as biodegradation/zero valent metals and humic acid/biodegradation produced treatment efficiencies near 90% in about two weeks with the promise of continued improvement with additional time.
In Situ Remediation Using Soil Mixing
Soil mixing, originally developed as a means for structural soil improvement, has evolved into a system for effectively treating soil in situ to meet environmental remediation cleanup objectives. Using soil mixing in remedial efforts has