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Publications (117)
The application of the 222Radon (Rn) deficit technique using subsurface soil gas probes for the identification and quantification of light non-aqueous phase liquids (LNAPL) has provided positive outcomes in recent years. This study presents an alternative method for applying this technique in the headspace of groundwater monitoring wells. The devel...
The degradation of trichloroethylene (TCE) vapors by zero-valent Iron-Copper (Fe-Cu) and Iron-Nickel (Fe-Ni) bimetals with 1%, 5% and 20% weight content (%wt) of Cu or Ni was tested in anaerobic batch vapor systems carried out at ambient room temperature (20 ± 2 °C) under partially saturated conditions. The concentrations of TCE and byproducts were...
The Radon (Rn) deficit technique is a rapid, low-cost, and non-invasive method to identify and quantify light non-aqueous phase liquids (LNAPL) in the soil. LNAPL saturation is typically estimated from Rn deficit using Rn partition coefficients, assuming equilibrium conditions. This work examines the applicability of this method in the presence of...
In this study, zero-valent iron-copper (Fe-Cu) and iron-nickel (Fe-Ni) bimetals were prepared by disc milling for the dehalogenation of trichloroethylene vapors. For both Fe-Ni and Fe-Cu, three combinations in terms of percentage of secondary metal added were produced (1%, 5%, 20% by weight) and the formation of the bimetallic phase by milling was...
The use of low-density polyethylene (PE) sheets as equilibrium passive soil gas samplers to quantify volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes, and chlorinated solvents (e.g., trichloroethene and tetrachloroethene) in unsaturated subsurface environments was evaluated via modeling and benchtop testing. Two...
This study examines the procedures used to assess the inhalation risks of workers exposed to chemicals emitted from contaminated environmental matrices (“environmental exposure”) or to substances present in the productive cycle (“occupational exposure”). For the environmental exposure, the limit values for workers set by U.S. EPA (RBSLair) were con...
In the last decades radon (Rn) has been widely proposed as a naturally occurring tracer for non-aqueous phase liquids (NAPL) in the soil. This work examines the feasibility of using soil gas data collected at some distance from the source zone for the application of the Rn deficit technique for the identification and quantification of NAPL contamin...
Accelerated carbonation is a carbon utilization option which allows the manufacturing of useful products, employing CO 2 -concentrated or -diluted emission sources and waste streams such as industrial or other processing solid residues, in a circular economy perspective. If properly implemented, it may reduce the exploitation of virgin raw material...
Ingestion of soil represents one of the critical exposure pathways in the human health risk assessment (HHRA) framework at sites contaminated by inorganic species, especially for residential scenarios. HHRA is typically carried out through starting from the so-called “total concentration”, which is estimated from the fraction of inorganic species e...
Rates of natural source zone depletion (NSZD) are increasingly being used to aid remedial decision making and light non-aqueous phase liquid (LNAPL) longevity estimates at petroleum release sites. Current NSZD estimate methods, based on analyses of carbon dioxide (CO2) and oxygen (O2) soil-gas concentration gradients (“gradient method”) assume line...
Chlorinated solvents are extensively used in many activities and hence in the past decades impacted a large number of sites. The presence of these contaminants in groundwater is challenging particularly for the management of the vapor intrusion pathway. In this work we examine the potential feasibility of using horizontal permeable reactive barrier...
This work investigates the sequential application of alkali activation and CO2 curing to BOF steel slag as a technique for improving its hydraulic reactivity for use in concrete, while also exploiting its potential as a carbon sink. Activation with either a sodium hydroxide/sodium-silicate or a sodium hydroxide/sodium carbonate solution was first e...
In this study, we investigate the performance of a Fenton-like process carried out adding as amendments humic acids extracted from compost obtained from organic wastes. Namely, Fenton-like lab-scale tests with different dosages of the extracted humic acids and traditional stabilizing agent (KH2PO4) were performed on a diesel-contaminated soil colle...
Accelerated carbonation is a treatment for converting alkaline industrial residues into added-value products and storing CO2 in solid form. This work investigated the influence of reacting phases and CO2 uptake on microstructure development, mechanical properties and the environmental behavior of carbonated compacts produced from Basic Oxygen Furna...
Carbonation of alkaline residues represents a potentially interesting technique for permanently storing in solid form CO2 contained in flue gas, syngas or biogas, as well as for the valorization of the residues. In particular, the wet carbonation route requires a low amount of water, does not generate wastewater and can be exploited to produce aggr...
The reduction of trichloroethylene (TCE) in gas phase by different types of granular zero-valent iron (Fe0) was examined in anaerobic batch vapor systems performed at room temperature. Concentrations of TCE and byproducts were determined at discrete time intervals by analysis of the headspace vapors. Depending on the type of iron used, reductions o...
Laboratory and field studies were used to evaluate the performance of low-density polyethylene (PE) passive samplers for assessing the freely dissolved concentrations of DDT and its degradates (DDD and DDE, together referred to as DDx) in an Italian lake environment. We tested commercially available 25 μm thick PE sheets as well as specially synthe...
Accelerated carbonation is a rapidly developing technology that is attracting attention as it uses CO2 as a binder to make construction materials. Originally stemming from geochemical and environmental research into CO2 sequestration or waste remediation, accelerated carbonation has been developed into a technology that enables to transform alkalin...
In this work, we introduce a screening method for the evaluation of the natural attenuation rates in the subsurface at sites contaminated by petroleum hydrocarbons. The method is based on the combination of the data obtained from standard source characterization with dynamic flux chambers measurements. The natural attenuation rates are calculated a...
Fenton-like treatment (FLT) is an ISCO technique relying on the iron-induced H2O2 activation in the presence of additives aimed at increasing the oxidant lifetime and maximizing iron solubility under natural soil pH conditions. The efficacy of FLT in the clean-up of hydrocarbon-contaminated soils is well established at the field-scale. However, a b...
This document presents examples of success stories of remediation of contaminated soils
in various contexts and different European countries. It is not meant to provide an exhaustive inventory of remediated sites in all countries. Eight countries present a total of 17 cases which illustrate how soil and brownfields remediation along with sustainabl...
A combined stabilization/solidification (S/S) and granulation treatment was shown to be effective, at lab scale, to produce secondary aggregates from a Brownfield soil slightly contaminated by metals. This treatment, as opposed to the frequently adopted “dig and dump” option, allows to combine soil management with site regeneration, minimizing land...
In view of the EU’s circular economy strategy, there is a need to develop treatments that may allow to improve the management of industrial residues such as steel manufacturing slag, for example by producing secondary products that may be used for different applications. This work evaluates the performance of a combined carbonation and granulation...
Simplified analytical solutions of fate and transport models are often used to carry out risk assessment on contaminated sites, to evaluate the long-term air quality in relation to volatile organic compounds in either soil or groundwater. Among the different assumptions employed to develop these solutions, in this work we focus on those used in the...
This work reports the first results of an on-going activity aimed at the scale up of the wet-route carbonation of steel slag for storing CO2 and generating a product with valorization potential. Two batches of Basic Oxygen Furnace slag (BOF1 and BOF2) collected at different times from a steelmaking plant downstream iron recovery were used to perfor...
This work reports the results of the life cycle assessment (LCA) of two carbonation processes aimed at permanent CO2 storage, employing Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF) slag from steel manufacturing as alkalinity source. Specifically, the performance of the slurry phase and wet carbonation routes were compared assuming to store the CO2 emitted from a 10...
In this work we introduce a 1-D analytical solution that can be used for the design of horizontal permeable reactive barriers (HPRBs) as a vapor mitigation system at sites contaminated by chlorinated solvents. The developed model incorporates a transient diffusion-dominated transport with a second-order reaction rate constant. Furthermore, the mode...
In this paper, we present a simple methodological approach to assess the dissolution behaviour of residual light nonaqueous phase liquid (LNAPL) sources entrapped in saturated porous media and to estimate the actual risk to human health by water ingestion related to their presence in the subsurface. The approach consists of collecting experimental...
This chapter aims at investigating and comparing the separation processes needed for upgrading synthetic natural gas (SNG) produced in second generation biomass conversion processes, which are run under operating conditions properly chosen in order to maximize the methane yield. Methane and ethane are obviously the most valuable components in SNG a...
The adoption of source to building separation distances to screen sites that need further field investigation is becoming a common practice for the evaluation of the vapor intrusion pathway at sites contaminated by petroleum hydrocarbons. Namely, for the source to building vertical distance, the screening criteria for petroleum vapor intrusion have...
In this work we propose and investigate an innovative groundwater remediation option based on the combination of catalyzed hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) with CO2 sparging. The effectiveness of this new process was evaluated by carrying out lab-scale tests on a soil-water system spiked with Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (MtBE). The results achieved with th...
This work presents the results of carbonation experiments performed on Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF) steel slag samples employing gas mixtures containing 40 and 10% CO2 vol. simulating the gaseous effluents of gasification and combustion processes respectively, as well as 100% CO2 for comparison purposes. Two routes were tested, the slurry-phase (L/S...
In Situ Chemical Oxidation (ISCO) based on the Fenton's process is a proven technology for the treatment of groundwater contaminated by organic compounds. Nevertheless, the application of this treatment process to methyl tert-butyl ether (MtBE) is questioned, as there are concerns about its capacity to achieve complete mineralization. Many existing...
This paper reports the results of experimental tests carried out in a biogas upgrading pilot plant installed in a landfill site based on an innovative process for biomethane production that allows to permanently store the separated CO2 and that makes use of waste incineration residues. The proposed upgrading method is based on the idea of coupling...
This work was aimed at investigating the performance of a combined carbonation and granulation treatment applied to Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF) steel slag with the aim of producing secondary aggregates and of storing CO2 in a solid and stable form. In order to improve the mechanical properties of the aggregates, an alkaline solution of sodium silica...
The present work reports the results obtained by coupling alkali activation and CO2 curing as a treatment for BOF slag, with the aim of improving the hydraulic reactivity of the residue while also exploiting its potential as carbon sink. The slag was mixed with two different solutions: NaOH (2M)+Na2SiO3 (50:50 by wt.) and NaOH (4M)+Na2CO3 (2M) (75:...
25 Years ago the first generation of human exposure models was published. Today, human exposure models are widely available and worldwide used on a large scale, often without much review or criticism. In many contaminated soil and groundwater appraisals, however, human exposure models contribute significantly to good risk assessment and risk manage...
This paper discusses the effects of accelerated carbonation on the leaching behaviour of two types of stainless steel slags (electric arc furnace and argon oxygen decarburisation slag). The release of major elements and toxic metals both at the natural pH and at varying pH conditions was addressed. Geochemical modelling of the eluates was used to t...
This paper presents and discusses the application of accelerated carbonation of industrial residues in three different contexts (a landfill site, a steel manufacturing plant and a Brownfield site) aimed at storing CO2 and obtaining additional specific environmental objectives, i.e.: the improvement of the leaching behavior of the treated residues,...
This communication gives an overview of our study on the dissolution kinetics of thermally activated serpentine (dehydroxylated serpentine). Firstly, we had studied the far-from-equilibrium dissolution kinetics of 75% dehydroxylated lizardite particles in a liquid and gas flow-through reactor at moderate temperatures (30 °C < T < 120 °C) and low CO...
The key role of biodegradation in attenuating the migration of petroleum hydrocarbon vapors into the indoor environments has been deeply investigated in the last decades. Very recently, empirical screening levels for the separation distance from the source, above which the potential for vapor intrusion can be considered negligible, were defined. In...
The results of direct aqueous accelerated carbonation of three types of steel manufacturing residues, including an electric arc furnace (EAF) slag and two basic oxygen furnace (BOF) steel slags, are reported. Batch accelerated carbonation tests were conducted at different temperatures and CO2 pressures applying the thin-film route (liquid to solid,...
In-Situ Chemical Oxidation (ISCO) is an effective technology for the remediation of sites contaminated by a wide range of organic contaminants. Despite it is a well-established technology in the United States, the number of full-scale ISCO application in Europe and particularly in Italy is still quite low. The introduction of ISCO in the portfolio...
An assessment of accelerated carbonation processes applied to industrial residues for CO2 storage was performed with the aim of gaining insight on the feasibility of this process at larger scale, identifying also the key factors for its implementation. Specifically, the material and energy requirements of two types of direct carbonation routes, the...
This work reports the results of a lab-scale investigation carried out to assess the
effects of a stabilization/solidification-granulation treatment applied to an
industrial soil sampled from a brownfield site. Preliminary tests were performed
on a natural soil to investigate the effects of the operating conditions and mixture
formulations on the p...
This paper reports about a pilot-scale feasibility study of In-Situ Chemical Oxidation (ISCO) application based on the use of stabilized hydrogen peroxide catalyzed by naturally occurring iron minerals (Fenton-like process) to a site formerly used for fuel storage and contaminated by MtBE. The stratigraphy of the site consists of a 2-3meter backfil...
Accelerated carbonation includes a set of processes by which an alkaline material reacts with carbon dioxide forming the corresponding carbonate. This process is applied at pilot scale or full scale for carbon capture from diluted CO2 sources (flue gas or syngas), using (hydr)oxides or carbonates of alkaline metals. Its application to carbon storag...
Mineral carbonation is an ex situ CO2 storage option that could allow to fix large amounts of CO2 in a solid and thermodynamically stable form. Its feasibility has been proven at lab-scale both employing natural minerals or alkaline industrial residues. However the energy requirements of this process can be quite significant depending on the type o...
In this work an innovative carbon dioxide removal method that, differently from the currently employed commercial techniques, allows also to capture and store the separated CO2 is investigated. This process, Alkali absorption with Regeneration (AwR), consists in a first step in which CO2 is separated from the biogas by chemical absorption with an a...
The dissolution of thermally activated serpentine (75% dehydroxylated) by direct flue-gas mineralization was investigated at far-from-equilibrium (w.r.t mineral dissolution) flow-through operating conditions. Experiments were performed at moderate partial pressures of CO2 (0.1 bar 2 bar CO2) and temperatures (30 °C 90 °C). Thermal activation enable...
Research in mineral carbonation has moved towards process concepts that combine the capture of CO2 from flue gas with its conversion into stable carbonates. This requires highly reactive source materials that dissolve under lean CO2 pressures and temperatures. Activated serpentine has been used in this study, and its carbonation potential under flu...
The main aim of this work was to assess the potential of in situ carbonation as a treatment to modify the properties of alkaline materials such as industrial soil in terms of leaching behaviour and mineralogy and to store the CO2 generated by specific treatments applied in the context of Brownfield regeneration. The process was investigated through...
This paper provides a short overview of the main oxidation processes more commonly applied for the remediation of contaminated sites, with specific reference to their application for the in situ remediation of contaminated sites, i.e. In Situ Chemical Oxidation (ISCO). A review of the main patents issued on this topic shows the relevant contributio...
This work analyzes the performance of an innovative biogas upgrading method, Alkali absorption with Regeneration (AwR) that employs industrial residues and allows to permanently store the separated CO2. This process consists in a first stage in which CO2 is removed from the biogas by means of chemical absorption with KOH or NaOH solutions followed...
This work reports the results of a combined accelerated carbonation and wet granulation treatment applied to Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF) steel slag with the aim of producing secondary aggregates for civil engineering applications and of storing CO2 in a solid and thermodynamically stable form. The tests were carried out in a laboratory scale granula...
An innovative biogas upgrading method that, differs from the currently employed commercial techniques, allows also to capture and store the separated CO2 is investigated. This process, named Alkali absorption with Regeneration (AwR), consists in a first step in which CO2 is separated from the biogas by chemical absorption with an alkali aqueous sol...
Direct Air Capture (DAC) of CO2 with chemicals, recently assessed in a dedicated study by the American Physical Society (APS), is further investigated with the aim of optimizing the design of the front-end section of its benchmark two-loop hydroxide-carbonate system. Two new correlations are developed that relate mass transfer and pressure drop to...
Ion exchange processes are effective for the removal of arsenic (As) from drinking water. However, the As uptake capacity of ion exchange resins is affected by the presence of other anions such as sulphates and nitrates. As these ions are typically found in groundwater, the design of ion exchange process aimed at removing As from groundwater may be...
Natural attenuation (NA) processes occurring in the subsurface can significantly affect the impact on groundwater from contamination sources located in the vadose zone, especially when mobile and readily biodegradable compounds, such as BTEX, are present. Besides, in the last decades several studies have shown natural attenuation to take place also...
Biogas up-grading treatments aimed at producing biomethane to fuel vehicles or to inject into the gas grid, are applications that are gaining increasing interest throughout Europe. Several different commercial methods are available for separating carbon dioxide from biogas. In this work an innovative carbon dioxide removal method that, differently...
Within the frame of an EC financially supported project - LIFE05 ENV/IT/000874 GHERL (Greenhouse Effect Reduction from Landfill)–a pilot plant was set up in order to demonstrate the feasibility of applying chemical absorption to remove carbon dioxide from landfill gas. After proper upgrading - basically removal of carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulphide,...
This work reports the preliminary evaluations obtained within the UPGAS-LOW CO2 project (LIFE08 ENV/IT/000429) concerning innovative methods for biogas upgrading through CO2 capture and storage. One of the methods studied in this project is chemical absorption of the CO2 contained in landfill gas with a KOH solution followed by carbonation of the s...
The CO2 uptake and Ca-to-carbonate conversion yield attained by wet and slurry-phase carbonation of stainless steel slag are reported. A maximum CO2 uptake of 180 g CO2/kg slag was achieved under wet conditions (50 °C, 3 bar CO2, 0.4 l/kg), corresponding to a Ca-to-carbonate conversion yield of 50%. The slurry-phase process, even when adopting more...
A one-dimensional steady state vapor intrusion model including both anaerobic and oxygen-limited aerobic biodegradation was developed. The aerobic and anaerobic layer thickness are calculated by stoichiometrically coupling the reactive transport of vapors with oxygen transport and consumption. The model accounts for the different oxygen demand in t...
This report deals with the application of ion exchange columns to the treatment of groundwater contaminated by high concentrations of arsenic in the presence of sulphates. Two different process layouts were tested, based on the use of a single column and of two-in-series columns, respectively. Several breakthrough tests were performed, where the ef...
This work deals with the regeneration of a KOH solution to use in a chemical absorption process for biogas upgrading. The proposed method consists in the caustic recovery of the spent absorption solution by carbonation of selected industrial residues and allows to store the separated CO2 in a solid phase (calcite). This paper presents the main resu...
The technical feasibility of a sequential batch process for the biological treatment of sediments contaminated by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) was evaluated through an experimental study. A bench-scale Sediment Slurry Sequencing Batch Reactor (SS-SBR) was fed with river sediments contaminated by a PAH mixture made by fluorene, anthracene...
This paper examines the main results of an accelerated carbonation treatment applied to different types and size fractions
of stainless steel slag. The objectives of this work were essentially to assess the CO2 uptake achievable by each type of slag under mild operating conditions and to investigate the effects of carbonation on the
mineralogy and...
Biodegradation kinetics of 3-chlorophenol (3-CP) were studied in two identical lab scale sequencing batch reactors (SBR) fed
with the compound as the sole energy and carbon source and operated at different filling time (1h for SBR1 and 2h for SBR2).
High removal efficiency was always obtained in both SBRs in the range of feed concentration of 300–9...
Clean-up of contaminated sites is usually based on a risk-based approach for the definition of the remediation goals, which relies on the well known ASTM-RBCA standard procedure. In this procedure, migration of contaminants is described through simple analytical models and the source contaminants' concentration is supposed to be constant throughout...
In this work, a comprehensive study on the kinetics of formation and decomposition of peroxyacetic acid in soil-slurry systems is presented. A model of peroxyacetic acid formation and decomposition was developed. It includes the kinetics of formation from hydrogen peroxide and acetic acid, peroxyacetic acid decomposition by hydrolysis and hydrogen...