Experimental Study on the Remediation of Oil Contaminated Soil Using Ultrasound

A series of orthogonal experiments were conducted to investigate the impact of ultrasound on the remediation of petroleum-contaminated soil. Five factors were examined, including initial oil concentration, soil-water ratio, soil type, sonication time and ultrasound power. The experimental results showed that the cleanup effect of ultrasound for oil contaminated soil was obvious. The soil type illustrated a significant influence on the TPH cleanup effect, while the TPH removal in four types of soils ranged from 46.7% to 83.1%. The experimental results suggested that ultrasonic desorption and subsequent filtration were the dominant mechanism for TPH reduction in the soil.