Petroleum Products Removal from Contaminated Soils using Microwave Heating

The purpose of this work is to analyze the influence of dielectric properties of polluting compounds and moisture content on the efficiency of microwave treatment of soil contaminated by hydrocarbons. Temperature, residual moisture and amount of pollutants removed during the time were investigated. The presence of water is essential in order to completely remove the most amount of the volatile substances. The optimal condition resulted 0.15 kg water/kg dry soil to remove all the more volatile components of kerosene and up to the 99% of the heavier compounds in short times. In conclusion microwave heating has resulted applicable to enhance the petroleum hydrocarbons extraction from the soil. In addition moisture content and dielectric properties of the contaminants significantly affected the decontamination efficiency.