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Long-term assessment of natural attenuation: statistical approach on soils with aged PAH contamination

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Abstract

Natural attenuation processes valorization for PAH-contaminated soil remediation has gained increasing interest from site owners. A misunderstanding of this method and a small amount of data available does not encourage its development. However, monitored natural attenuation (MNA) offers a valuable, cheaper and environmentally friendly alternative to more classical options such as physico-chemical treatments (e.g., chemical oxidation, thermal desorption). The present work proposes the results obtained during a long-term natural attenuation assessment of historically contaminated industrial soils under real climatic conditions. This study was performed after a 10 year natural attenuation period on 60 off-ground lysimeters filled with contaminated soils from different former industrial sites (coking industry, manufactured gas plants) whose initial concentration of PAH varied between 380 and 2,077 mg kg−1. The analysed parameters included leached water characterization, soil PAH concentrations, evaluation of vegetation cover quality and quantity. Results showed a good efficiency of the PAH dissipation and limited transfer of contaminants to the environment. It also highlighted the importance of the fine soil fractions in controlling PAH reactivity. PAH dissipation through water leaching was limited and did not present a significant risk for the environment. This PAH water concentration appeared however as a good indicator of overall dissipation rate, thereby illustrating the importance of pollutant availability in predicting its degradation potential.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge with gratitude the technical help of the GAIA association, especially S. Boursange, S. Chauchard, V. Colasse, R. Collaud, V. Frochot, E. Henry, E. Laurent and N. Simler, for excellent plant identification work and of B. Genest and C. Barnier for soil sampling and analysis. They also wish to thank J.-C. Begin, A. Bouchard, B. Colin, P. Henner, S. Colin, A. Rakoto, C. Saison, and J. Fismes who set-up and helped maintain the devices, with the financial support of ADEME, Région Lorraine (GISFI) and EDF-GDF.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. LSE, UMR 1120, Université de Lorraine, Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy, 54518, France

    Stéphanie Ouvrard, Elodie-Denise Chenot & Christophe Schwartz

  2. LSE, UMR 1120, INRA, Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy, 54518, France

    Stéphanie Ouvrard, Elodie-Denise Chenot & Christophe Schwartz

  3. LIEC, UMR 7360, Université de Lorraine, Metz, 57070, France

    Jean-François Masfaraud

  4. LIEC, UMR 7360, CNRS, Metz, 57070, France

    Jean-François Masfaraud

Authors
  1. Stéphanie Ouvrard
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  2. Elodie-Denise Chenot
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  3. Jean-François Masfaraud
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  4. Christophe Schwartz
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Correspondence to Stéphanie Ouvrard.

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Ouvrard, S., Chenot, ED., Masfaraud, JF. et al. Long-term assessment of natural attenuation: statistical approach on soils with aged PAH contamination. Biodegradation 24, 539–548 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10532-013-9618-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10532-013-9618-5

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