Remediation of DDTr contaminated soil by the combination of solvent extraction and catalytic hydrodechlorination

Abstract

A combination technique for remediation of DDT and its metabolites (DDTr) contaminated soil based on successive steps of solvent extraction, followed by catalytic hydrodechlorination (HDC) was studied. Firstly, solvent extraction was applied to extract DDTr contaminated soil at ambient temperature and pressure. According to GC-MS analysis, the extracts from DDTr contaminated soil are mainly composed of p,p′-DDT, o,p′DDT, p,p′-DDE, o,p′-DDE, p,p′-DDD, and DCBP. Subsequently, catalytic HDH over a Pd/C catalyst was introduced to treat the extract from DDTr contaminated soil, and the HDC process of DDTr was surveyed by monitoring the GC-MS analysis. These results demonstrate that the combined technique of solvent extraction and catalytic HDC can effectively remediate DDTr contaminated soil and reduce its toxicity.