FUNDAMENTAL STUDIES OF THERMAL DECONTAMINATION OF SOILS

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Description: The specific aims of the project include the broad, long- term objective to provide new scientific and engineering understanding for safely applying thermal treatment to soil decontamination. The investigators will seek to identify those details of commercially realizable treatment schedules that do (and do not) give rise to rapid and efficient destruction or removal of organic and metallic contaminants without causing unacceptable public health impacts. The project has three specific aims. Specific aim 1 is directed at a study of how normal treatment conditions and upset conditions affect the rates of removal/destruction of targeted contaminants and yields, identities, production rates, and human cell mutagenicity of toxic by-products. Specific aim 2 is to determine if pretreatment of soil with low cost additives can be combined with controlled thermal treatment to isolate metals or heteroatoms in solid matrices or as chemical compounds. The investigators will determine if these isolated species are suited for separation, storage, and\or reprocessing. Specific aim 3 involves modeling of health impacts of soil thermal desorption and utilizes data bases and kinetics obtained for specific aims 1 and 2. The research will test the hypotheses that: 1) existing commercial thermal treatment can decontaminate soils without generating mutagenic by-products that could contribute to adverse public health impacts; 2) there are alternate thermal treatment schedules that provide attractive removal efficiencies but could generate toxic by-products; 3) thermal reactions of soil and soil decomposition products can significantly affect soil decontamination behavior; and 4) treating agents can bind metals and heteroatoms into solid matrices.