Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Tables similar to Table 12.1 are used by practitioners as a first approach prior to
visiting the site. They provide an idea of potential contamination with respect to the
nature of past industrial activity and they allow practitioners to identify the
investigational and remediation techniques to adopt. Inspection of the contaminants
listed in Table 12.1 allows the classification of the standard contaminants as
follows:
−
Soluble chemical contaminants
: acids, bases, nitrates, nitrites (fertilizers),
sulfates, fluorides (chemical industry, aluminum fabrication), chlorides, cyanides
(gas factories, petroleum chemistry, surface treatment industry, ore treatment),
detergents, surface-acting components (industrial and domestic cleaning),
pesticides, herbicides, etc.
−
Heavy metals
(cadmium, manganese, cobalt, chrome, copper, lead, mercury,
nickel, zinc and arsenic). They come mainly from disposal of either urban or
industrial waste and of atmospheric fallout from industrial or incineration facilities.
Run-off and local long-term water infiltration from zinc roofs is also a possible
pollution source.
−
Hydrocarbon compounds
coming from crude oil, including all fuels used in
industry, energy production and transport. They are defined by the number of
carbon atoms C
i
and by their boiling temperature [ACA 00]: fuel (C
4
-C
10
, 150-
250°C), kerosene (C
11
-C
13
, 150-250°C), light diesel-oil (C
14
-C
18
, 250-325°C), heavy
diesel-oil (C
19
-C
25
, 325-450°C), oil (C
26
-C
40
, 450-500°C) and residues
(C
>40
, > 500°C). The infiltration of these pollutants will have a different impact on
the soil according to their density (less than one for C
5
to C
26
) as will be further
commented on in Chapter 14. This category of pollutants also comprises various
industrial products (including many organo-chlorinated solvents with density higher
than one that will be described further when commenting on contaminants found in
the vicinity of waste disposal sites, see Figure 12.1).
In France, the characteristics of most soil contaminants are presented in detail in
a guide [BRG 01a] available on the FASP website (http://www.fasp.info).
Figure 12.1 presents some statistics showing the organic contents most often
found due to contaminant leaks from waste disposal in Germany and the US, based
on the data from 92 centers in Germany and 358 in the US [SCH 88]. The data show
some of the contaminants most frequently used in industry. They show the
importance of organo-chlorinated aliphatic solvents (di-, tri- and tetrachloroethene,
di- and trichloroethane) and of aromatic solvents (dichlorobenzene), together with
that of monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (BTEX: benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene,
xylene). The toxicity of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, with molecular
compositions going from C
12
to C
20
(naphthalene, anthracene, pyrenes,
benzopyrenes), described in detail in [YON 91] and [BRG 01a], are worth noting.
