Use of Surfactant-Based Reagents for Cleaning Oil-Contaminated Soils

Abstract

The goal of this work was to determine the effectiveness of various surfactant-based reagents and disclose the interrelationships of the effectiveness of the reagent and the type of the soil being cleaned, the concentration of the working reagent solution, and the alkalinity of the solution. It was found that reagents containing anionic and nonionic surfactants and their working solutions having high pH values are most effective. However, this parameter is not decisive for both petroleum hydrocarbons and natural organic compounds. Study of the influence of sorption capacity of soil matrices on the effectiveness of soil cleaning by reagent treatment revealed that sorption of molecules of contaminating matters and molecules of surfactants markedly reduces the overall effectiveness of leaching out of organic matters from the soils.