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Decontamination of electronic waste-polluted soil by ultrasound-assisted soil washing

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Abstract

Laboratorial scale experiments were performed to evaluate the efficacy of a washing process using the combination of methyl-β-cyclodextrin (MCD) and tea saponin (TS) for simultaneous desorption of hydrophobic organic contaminants (HOCs) and heavy metals from an electronic waste (e-waste) site. Ultrasonically aided mixing of the field contaminated soil with a combination of MCD and TS solutions simultaneously mobilizes most of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and the analyte metal (Pb, Cu, and Ni) burdens. It is found that 15 g/L MCD and 10 g/L TS is an efficient reagent combination reconciling extraction performance and reagent costs. Under these conditions, the removal efficiencies of HOCs and heavy metals are 93.5 and 91.2 %, respectively, after 2 cycles of 60-min ultrasound-assisted washing cycles. By contrast, 86.3 % of HOCs and 88.4 % of metals are removed from the soil in the absence of ultrasound after 3 cycles of 120-min washing. The ultrasound-assisted soil washing could generate high removal efficiency and decrease the operating time significantly. Finally, the feasibility of regenerating and reusing the spent washing solution in extracting pollutants from the soil is also demonstrated. By application of this integrated technology, it is possible to recycle the washing solution for a purpose to reduce the consumption of surfactant solutions. Collectively, it has provided an effective and economic treatment of e-waste-polluted soil.

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by the Key Projects in the National Science & Technology Pillar Program during the 13th Five-year Plan Period (2015BAD06B02).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Low Carbon Energy Institute, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, 221008, People’s Republic of China

    Fu Chen, Jing Ma & Junfeng Qu

  2. School of Environment Science and Spatial Informatics, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, 221043, People’s Republic of China

    Fu Chen & Baodan Yang

  3. School of Mathematical and Geospatial Sciences, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University, Melbourne, 3000, Australia

    Fu Chen & Gangjun Liu

Authors
  1. Fu Chen
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  2. Baodan Yang
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  3. Jing Ma
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  4. Junfeng Qu
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  5. Gangjun Liu
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Correspondence to Fu Chen.

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Responsible editor: Angeles Blanco

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Chen, F., Yang, B., Ma, J. et al. Decontamination of electronic waste-polluted soil by ultrasound-assisted soil washing. Environ Sci Pollut Res 23, 20331–20340 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-7271-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-7271-3

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