Obiettivo
The project is to demonstrate the extraction of organic contaminants out of polluted soils or industrial wastes. The system is designed to be mobile, rendering it suitable for the clean-up of small and medium-size contaminated sites. In order to determine the optimum operation parameters, an existing pilot unit was designed for batch operation. The demonstration unit of this project will be used for testing technical options, such as:
- continuous extraction and drying
- vacuum distillation instead of steam distillation
- fractional instead of vessel distillation, in order to obtain a high-grade recycled solvent
- the use of non-chlorinated solvents.
The technology has been adapted from existing solvent extraction techniques used, e.g. in dry-cleaning, cafeine extraction, etc. Sophisticated drying and emission protection technologies are applied in order to ensure minimum pollution from solvent application and maximum solvent recovery. A safety assessment by the T?V Stuttgart did not show up any weak points.
A patent application was filed for the process.
A mobile unit to deal with the problem of cleaning up soil contaminated by toxic organics has been developed.
First, it was shown that soil cold be effectively cleaned up using organic solvents to extract the hazardous substances; however, the solvents could not be removed from the cleaned soil to an extent acceptable by Dutch standards and thus constituted pollution themselves.
The mobile treatment system was tried on detoxification of bromium organics industry waste, with good results.
Efforts returned to the clean up of contaminated soil and the removal of solvents within the treated soil by using an easily extractable solvent, methylene chloride, instead of solvents with lower vapour pressure, and applying heat and vacuum to the soil while breaking up the soil structure using a ribbon blender. This proved sufficient to meet Dutch standards of solvent remaining in the soil; results were excellent, the degree of achievable clean up depending only on the number of clean up cycles; economy, however, was poor. The clean up of chemical waste such as polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) contaminated waste oil was achieved in an economically justified manner.
The mobile plant deals well with all kinds of emissions and can reach the clean up goals set by simply varying the number of cycles. There are still some problems with corrosion due to the aggressive nature of the chemical waste treated. Other problems, such as water treatment and emission reduction, were successfully solved.
To remove organic contaminants from soil, SMET JET Ltd, at Westerloo/Belgium, has developed a clean-up process using organic solvents to extract the contaminant from soil. This project was assisted by the European Commission within the frame of its ACE 89 programme for demonstration projects on clean technologies and on monitoring and rehabilitation of contaminated sites, during three years from 1991 to 1993.
Former solvent extraction processes suffered from problems with solvent recovery and remaining soil contamination, after treatment, by the solvents themselves, for which there are standards, e.g. in Dutch legislation. These problems were successfully solved.
The principle of the mobile unit constructed by SMET JET is to extract the contaminants from the soil in a batch reactor; after extraction, the solvents are driven out of the soil by heating and application of vacuum. If this step did not meet the preset goals of contaminant removal, the process can be repeated as often as necessary to achieve the goals.
The extraction unit is connected to a gas treatment unit within the mobile plant to ensure safe operation.
SMET JET was able to make a major break-through in the art of soil clean-up using solvent extraction, the economy, however, still being prohibitive for the treatment of soils with normal contaminants. Thus, the technique developed within the project has good chances to be applied only for cleaning up soils polluted by specific problem contaminants and chemical waste.
Programma(i)
Programmi di finanziamento pluriennali che definiscono le priorità dell’UE in materia di ricerca e innovazione.
Programmi di finanziamento pluriennali che definiscono le priorità dell’UE in materia di ricerca e innovazione.
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Gli inviti a presentare proposte sono suddivisi per argomenti. Un argomento definisce un’area o un tema specifico per il quale i candidati possono presentare proposte. La descrizione di un argomento comprende il suo ambito specifico e l’impatto previsto del progetto finanziato.
Invito a presentare proposte
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Procedura per invitare i candidati a presentare proposte di progetti, con l’obiettivo di ricevere finanziamenti dall’UE.
Meccanismo di finanziamento
Meccanismo di finanziamento (o «Tipo di azione») all’interno di un programma con caratteristiche comuni. Specifica: l’ambito di ciò che viene finanziato; il tasso di rimborso; i criteri di valutazione specifici per qualificarsi per il finanziamento; l’uso di forme semplificate di costi come gli importi forfettari.
Meccanismo di finanziamento (o «Tipo di azione») all’interno di un programma con caratteristiche comuni. Specifica: l’ambito di ciò che viene finanziato; il tasso di rimborso; i criteri di valutazione specifici per qualificarsi per il finanziamento; l’uso di forme semplificate di costi come gli importi forfettari.
Coordinatore
2431 Oevel-Westerloo
Belgio
I costi totali sostenuti dall’organizzazione per partecipare al progetto, compresi i costi diretti e indiretti. Questo importo è un sottoinsieme del bilancio complessivo del progetto.