A biosurfactant-enhanced soil flushing for the removal of phenanthrene and diesel in sand

In order to examine the potential of biosurfactants in soil remediation, and to investigate the effects of several operating conditions, such as flow rate, biosurfactant concentration and surfactant type, biosurfactant-enhanced soil flushing was conducted. In the biosurfactant-enhanced soil flushing process, the removal efficiency increased as the flow rate decreased. Rhamnolipid showed no effect on the removal efficiency of phenanthrene and diesel from sand in the concentration range 0.3-0.5%. However, rhamnolipid showed higher efficiencies for the removal of phenanthrene and diesel from sand than Tween 80. Based on total recovery, following an equivalent pore volume flush, it was more difficult to remove diesel than phenanthrene. In order to obtain the specific removal efficiency, more pore volumes of surfactant solution may be required in field applications. Under optimum conditions, the biosurfactant removed as much as 70% of the phenanthrene and 60% of the diesel in the sand. These results indicate that the use of biosurfactants in the flushing process is favorable, not only with respect to the environment, but also on removal efficiencies.