Skip to main content
European Commission logo
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS
CORDIS Web 30th anniversary CORDIS Web 30th anniversary
Content archived on 2024-06-16

An innovative method for the on-site remediation of polluted soil under existing infrastructures

Objective

Soil pollution with harmful substances (heavy metals, PCB, chlorinated hydrocarbons) is a global problem nowadays. It most often results in groundwater pollution and this in turn in harmful consequence for human, animal and plant health. In the EU 1.5 M po lluted sites have been estimated, and in the NIS the number is at least comparable, such as former military sites, machinery repair and fuel stations, and industrial production sites. Today, the commonest method used to address land pollutants is to excava te and remove the polluted land, which is then treated or transported to a landfill at another location. As a rule, this is a costly method that results in a heavy environmental load, due to long transport distances, among other factors. Moreover, in many cases the excavation is not an option due to financial or technical reasons. The development of new technologies for the removal of pollutants from the soil has thus become a priority. CLEANSOIL aims to develop and promote a simple and cost-efficient alter native to enable the on-site, in-situ treatment of hazardous substances, especially targeted for large areas of polluted land and causing minimum site disturbance. Therefore, the system is applicable to the remediation of soil below buildings, roads, pipel ines, railroads, etc, for both local and/or diffuse contamination, and even for preventive applications. The method consists on the insertion of several chords connecting a multitude of sorbent material-containing sockets inside the same number of parallel horizontal holes drilled in the ground. After a sufficient period of time the sorbents absorb the pollutants to the desired remediation effect, the system is removed and the sorbent regenerated for further application. The project will study the applicati on of this new method for a wide range of polluted soils by making the needed adaptations and testing the performance of different sorbents in order to establish selective systems for each kind of pollutant.

Call for proposal

FP6-2003-INCO-RUSSIA+NIS-1
See other projects for this call

Coordinator

VEREIN ZUR FÖRDERUNG DES TECHNOLOGIETRANSFERS AN DER HOCHSCHULE BREMERHAVEN E.V.
EU contribution
No data
Total cost
No data

Participants (9)