FEASIBILITY STUDY OF ULTRASONICATION AS AN ALTERNATIVE TECHNOLOGY FOR REMEDIATION OF ORGANIC COMPOUND CONTAMINATED SOIL

• Main Author: Safitri, Nabila
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Subjects: Teknik saniter dan perkotaan; teknik perlindungan lingkungan
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/61448
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

Industrialization and technological developments in various sectors, along with innovation, have produced various types of organic and inorganic substances that have the potential to pollute the surrounding environment, including soil. Types of organic substances that often pollute the soil include petroleum (total petroleum hydrocarbons or TPH), persistent organic pollutants (POPs), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). These compounds are toxic and cannot be fully degraded by biochemical processes, so innovations are needed in the processing of polluted soil. One of the emerging soil remediation technologies is sonication or ultrasonic treatment. Sonication is a method to facilitate the process of desorption or release of contaminants from soil particles as well as the formation of hydroxyl radicals. Ultrasonication mechanisms in the remediation of polluted soil include sonophysical effects in the form of macromixing, micromixing, acoustic streaming, bubbles microstreaming, cavitation bubbles, shockwave, and microjets, and sonochemical effects in the form of hydroxyl radical production for contaminant degradation. The results showed that the most feasible pollutant to be treated with ultrasonication is POPs. Then, an analysis was conducted regarding the trends of various ultrasonication parameters towards contaminant removal efficiency, which are contact time, solid:liquid ratio, sonicator power and frequency, initial concentration of contaminants, and soil characteristics. There is also a comparison between ultrasonication as a sole treatment and ultrasonication as hybrid technology with other remediation methods such as mechanical stirring, soil washing, soil flushing, and electrokinetic remediation. Further analysis was conducted by summarizing the results of the study in graphs to see the trends of contact time, power, and type of processing on removal efficiency, as well as the relationship between the molecular weight range to electrical energy per order (EEO).