Cleaning up Europe's former industrial zones

Industrialisation in Europe during the last three centuries has left much pollution in its wake. Now, a new cost-effective method of removing pollutants from the ground in related areas could help rehabilitate former industrial regions.

A highly active industrial past has left Europe with many contaminants in its soil and water. This threatens the environment and the health of humans, animals and plants, prompting the EU to explore new, more cost-effective solutions to remedy this dire phenomenon. The EU-funded project 'Sustainable soil upgrading by developing cost effective, biogeochemical remediation approaches' (Upsoil) introduced a new, economically viable solution to remedy soil and groundwater pollution.

The project worked on developing new technology for rapid on-site biochemical remediation of organic contaminants. It conducted tests and modelled treatment processes around sites in Belgium, Spain, Austria and Poland to achieve its aims, coupling biological and chemical techniques for increased effectiveness.

First, the project team studied the interaction between remediation treatments and contaminated areas to help develop better tools that are best suited for chemical oxidation technology. It then developed an improved, highly targeted injection system for more efficient delivery of the reactant, featuring technology that continuously records real-time distribution of the contaminants. This successfully resulted in requiring smaller amounts of chemical agents and less time to accomplish the remediation process.

An important part of the team's effort revolved around injecting specifically developed chemical oxidants in precisely the right places. This helps ensure minimal loss of remediation reagents used in chemical oxidation processes. The team studied different approaches to increase the efficiency of chemical treatments via a more targeted application of reagents, involving hydrophilic coated-packed reagents, hydrophobic coated-packed reagents and micelles. This helped science come closer to finding the most appropriate particles and particle sizes to achieve improved targeting.

More details can be found at the following link: http://cordis.europa.eu/fetch?CALLER=OFFR_TM_EN&ACTION=D&RCN=10970