Abstract

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the potential of persulfate (PS) oxidant in the presence of mineral siderite (SI) for remediation of fuel oil contaminated soils. Clay and sandy soils were selected as representative soils which were spiked with 5000 mg fuel oil per kilogram of dry' soil. The efleets of controlling factors such as different persulfate concentrations (100-500 mM), siderite concentrations (0.1-0.5 g), pH (3-9), and temperature (20-60 degrees C) were also investigated. The results indicated that in clay and sandy soil samples, the highest total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPHs) degradation was observed in the following condition: pH= 3, soils temperature =60 degrees C and PS/Fe (II) molar ratio = 400 mM/0.4 g and 300 mM/0.3 g in clay and sandy soil, respectively. Based on our findings, using persulfate oxidation in the presence of siderite as an activator is a promising technique to remediate soil contaminated by petroleum hydrocarbons.