PROCESS AND PLANT FOR DECONTAMINATING SOLID MATERIALS CONTAMINATED WITH ORGANIC POLLUTANTS

摘要

In order to decontaminate solid materials contaminated with organic pollutants, in particular soil contaminated with poly- cyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, the materials are mixed with a micro-emulsion, if required after being crushed and mechanically disaggregated. The organic impurities are solubilized in the apolar compartment of the micro-emulsion and the micro-emulsion is decomposed, in particular by temperature change, into a tenside-rich phase a nd into a pollutant-containing phase. By using mic- ro-emulsions of biodegradable components, the purified solid materials, in particular purified soil, may be returned to the envir- onment. A plant for carrying out the process has a multiple-stage extraction device (3), in which the contaminated solid material is mixed with the micro-emulsion and the impurities concentrate in the apola r oil phase. In a separating device (6), the extracted solid material is separated from the contaminated micro-emulsion, which is then decomposed in a phase separating device (8) in- to a tenside-rich water phase, collected in the container (11), and into a pollutant-containing oil phase (oil container 12). By using biodegradable components for the micro-emulsion. the pollutant-containing oi l phase can be reacted in a micro-organism reactor (14) in order to achieve its total degradation.