Carbon Amendments and Remediation of Contaminated Sediments
Sediments are archives of human activities and other environmental changes in the aquatic environment. In many cases they reflect past and present activities in their catchment. Therefore, elevated concentrations of many types of micropollutants, includin
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Contents 1 Introduction 2 Sediment Remediation 2.1 Need for Remediation 2.2 Traditional Methods 3 Sediment Remediation with Carbon Amendments 3.1 Activated Carbon as a Sorbent 3.2 Applicability 3.3 Remediation Efficiency 3.4 Secondary Ecological Effects 4 Concluding Remarks and Future Prospects References
Abstract Sediments are archives of human activities and other environmental changes in the aquatic environment. In many cases they reflect past and present activities in their catchment. Therefore, elevated concentrations of many types of micropollutants, including hydrophobic organic compounds, are found in sediments. However, sediment is not necessarily the final sink for contaminants, as they can pose a threat to local biota as well as to human health. In cases where sediments are toxic or the contaminants bioaccumulate in organisms and/or biomagnify in food chains, remedial actions are considered. This chapter introduces briefly the most common sediment remediation methods including monitored natural recovery and environmental dredging and capping, but the focus is on more recently introduced activated carbon-based sediment amendment technology. All methods come with advantages but also with problems, and these may be contaminant and site specific.
S. Abel and J. Akkanen (*) Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Finland e-mail: jarkko.akkanen@uef.fi I. Nybom Department of Environmental Science (ACES), Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden Jose Julio Ortega-Calvo and John Robert Parsons (eds.), Bioavailability of Organic Chemicals in Soil and Sediment, Hdb Env Chem, DOI 10.1007/698_2020_512, © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
S. Abel et al.
Overall, carbon amendment technology is shown to be a worthy alternative to the traditional methods. Further development is ongoing to broaden the applicability, for example, and promote biodegradation of the contaminants and environmental conditions under which it can be applied. Keywords Activated carbon, Bioavailability, Contamination, Remediation, Sediment
1 Introduction Sediments are an important part of the aquatic environments, offering habitats for a wide variety of organisms and playing an important role in the control of biogeochemical cycles. Sediments consist of material eroded from the watershed and materials produced within the water body itself. In many cases materials from land dominate. These reflect both natural and anthropogenic processes in the watershed. The solid matter in sediments is a mixture of organic and mineral particles of varying type and size. The quality of sediment varies both among different aquatic systems and within a water body. Heavier and bigger particles are more likely to settle in high-energy environments, whereas lighter and finer materials are deposited in low-energy environments. Seasonal and episodical variations between low- and high-energy conditions (e.g., high flow vs. low flow, storm events) create dynamic sediment conditions at certain sites. In aquatic systems, sedim
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