In typical remediation practices, separate washing systems have to be applied to clean up the soils contaminated with both oil and heavy metals. In this study, we evaluated the efficiency of successive two-stage soil washing in removal of mixed-contaminants from soil matrix. Two-stage soil washing experiments were conducted using different combinations of chemical agent: 1) persulfate oxidation, followed by organic acid washing, and 2) Fenton oxidation, followed by inorganic acid washing. Persulfate oxidation-organic acid washing efficiently removed both organic and inorganic contaminants to meet the regulatory soil quality standard. The average removal rates of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH), Cu, Pb, and Zn were 88.9%, 82.2%, 77.5%, and 66.3% respectively, (S/L 1:10, reaction time 1 h, persulfate 0.5 M, persulfate:activator 3:1, citric acid 2 M). Fenton oxidation-inorganic acid washing also gave satisfactory performances to give 89%, 80.9%, 87.1%, and 67.7% removal of TPH, Cu, Pb, and Zn, respectively (S/L 1:10, reaction time 1 hr, hydrogen peroxide 0.3 M, hydrogen peroxide:activator 5:1, inorganic acid 1 M).

Keywords: Soil washing;Mixed contaminants;TPH;Heavy metals;Multistage;