title: Remediation of soils combining soil vapor extraction and bioremediation: benzene.
abstract: This work reports the study of the combination of soil vapor extraction (SVE) with bioremediation (BR) to remediate soils contaminated with benzene. Soils contaminated with benzene with different water and natural organic matter contents were studied. The main goals were: (i) evaluate the performance of SVE regarding the remediation time and the process efficiency; (ii) study the combination of both technologies in order to identify the best option capable to achieve the legal clean up goals; and (iii) evaluate the influence of soil water content (SWC) and natural organic matter (NOM) on SVE and BR. The remediation experiments performed in soils contaminated with benzene allowed concluding that: (i) SVE presented (a) efficiencies above 92% for sandy soils and above 78% for humic soils; (b) and remediation times from 2 to 45 h, depending on the soil; (ii) BR showed to be an efficient technology to complement SVE; (iii) (a) SWC showed minimum impact on SVE when high airflow rates were used and led to higher remediation times for lower flow rates; (b) NOM as source of microorganisms and nutrients enhanced BR but hindered the SVE due the limitation on the mass transfer of benzene from the soil to the gas phase.
authors.affiliation: Requimte, Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto, Rua S. Tomé, 4200-072 Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: António Alves
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Soares
authors.forename: José Tomás
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Albergaria
authors.forename: Valentina Fernandes
authors.initials: VF
authors.lastname: Domingues
authors.forename: Maria da Conceição M
authors.initials: Mda C
authors.lastname: Alvim-Ferraz
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Delerue-Matos
mesh_terms: D001554:Benzene / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D004526:Efficiency; D052918:Environmental Restoration and Remediation / Q000379:methods*; D012988:Soil Microbiology; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D012989:Soil Pollutants; D001554:Benzene