Procedure for detoxication of linuron contaminated soil based on ozonation and fluidization process

Abstract

The linuron contaminated soil was subjected to remediation using ozone as an oxidant. The experiments were performed both in laboratory and pilot plant installations. Kinetics of linuron degradation was determined for both systems. Moreover, main linuron metabolites were identified, and possible degradation pathway was proposed. The soil remediation was found to be successful, which was verified by chemical and biological tests. The half-life time of linuron in the pilot scale installation was no more than 7.5 h. To verify the efficiency of soil detoxification, a toxicity test was performed, which utilized Eisenia foetida earthworm. The test organisms were exposed for 14 days to the linuron contaminated soil prior and after the remediation procedure. It was observed that in the control group and the group of organisms exposed to the ozonated soil, the survivability was 100%, whereas the earthworms exposed to the linuron contaminated soil that was not ozonated did not survive at all.

Keywords

• inuron degradation
• soil contamination
• detoxication
• earthworms
• eisenia foetida