title: Evaluation of soil pH and moisture content on in-situ ozonation of pyrene in soils.
abstract: In this study, pyrene spiked soil (300 ppm) was ozonated at pH levels of 2, 6, and 8 and three moisture contents. It was found that soil pH and moisture content impacted the effectiveness of PAH oxidation in unsaturated soils. In air-dried soils, as pH increased, removal increased, such that pyrene removal efficiencies at pH 6 and pH 8 reached 95-97% at a dose of 2.22 mg O(3)/mg pyrene. Ozonation at 16.2+/-0.45 mg O(3)/ppm pyrene in soil resulted in 81-98% removal of pyrene at all pH levels tested. Saturated soils were tested at dry, 5% or 10% moisture conditions. The removal of pyrene was slower in moisturized soils, with the efficiency decreasing as the moisture content increased. Increasing the pH of the soil having a moisture content of 5% resulted in improved pyrene removals. On the contrary, in the soil having a moisture content of 10%, as the pH increased, pyrene removal decreased. Contaminated PAH soils were stored for 6 months to compare the efficiency of PAH removal in freshly contaminated soil and aged soils. PAH adsorption to soil was found to increase with longer exposure times; thus requiring much higher doses of ozone to effectively oxidize pyrene.
authors.affiliation: North Carolina A&T State University, Department of Civil, Architectural, Agricultural and Environmental Engineering, Greensboro, NC 27411, USA. luster@ncat.edu
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Luster-Teasley
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ubaka-Blackmoore
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Masten
mesh_terms: D003666:Decontamination; D052918:Environmental Restoration and Remediation / Q000379:methods; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D010126:Ozone / Q000737:chemistry*; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons / Q000737:chemistry; D011721:Pyrenes / Q000737:chemistry*; D012987:Soil / Q000032:analysis*; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons; D011721:Pyrenes; D012987:Soil; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D010126:Ozone