Investigations on the dissolved organic matter leached from oil-contaminated soils by using pyrolysis remediation method.

ABSTRACT

Pyrolysis, as a convenient and fast technology, has been proved to be promising in the remediation of oil-contaminated soil. However, little is known about the dissolved organic matter (DOM) associated with pyrolyzed oil-contaminated soil and its environmental impact. Herein, optical spectroscopic techniques (i.e., absorbance and fluorescence) were adopted to reveal the relationship between the pyrolysis temperature and the characteristics of the DOM and the associated phytotoxicity. Results show that one of the main factors determining the properties and phytotoxicity of DOM leached from the pyrolyzed soil is the critical temperature (approximately 325 °C) during pyrolysis. When the temperature was lower than 325 °C, more types and quantities of DOM, mainly fulvic acid-like substances, were desorbed from the soil with the temperature, which have little effect on wheat growth. However, when the temperature was in the range of 325-550 °C, the type and quantity of DOM increased first and then decreased as the temperature increased, during which the organic matter in the soil decomposed. The wheat growth was first inhibited and then promoted. Finally, the correlation between the spectral indices of DOM with the phytotoxicity suggested that fluorescent components identified by parallel factor analysis were positively correlated with phytotoxicity. This study indicates the pyrolytic remediation of oil-contaminated soil should avoid some critical temperature ranges.