Decontamination of soil affected by metallic and organic contaminants

Proponent:

Dragage Verreault Inc.

Name of project :

Development and demonstration of a new treatment process for sediments heavily contaminated with organic and metallic constituents.

Summary description of project:

Dragage Verreault Inc. is fine-tuning a sediment treatment process that was originally developed together with the INRS and COREM. The company intends to use this process for treating soil contaminated by metals and hydrocarbons. The project consists of a pilot-scale test on a highly contaminated site and a contaminated sediment and soil treatment technology, based on using flotation columns. An ex-situ treatment is done for the contaminated sediments and soil through a treatment unit operating in three stages:

• the separation of metallic pieces and other residues by soil screening
• the removal of hydrocarbons using surface-active agents
• the separation of metals by methods used in the mining industry.

Following the use of this technology, the metals extracted from the soil can be reused in foundries. The hydrocarbons are safely buried or instead eliminated by heating. The process waters are reused in closed circuit.

Technical partners:

• COREM
• INRS-Géoressources
• Montreal Centre of Excellence in Brownfields Rehabilitation (MCEBR)

Funding partners:

• Dragage Verreault Inc.
• Montreal Centre of Excellence in Brownfields Rehabilitation (MCEBR)
• Fonds des priorités gouvernementales en sciences et technologies - volet environnement (FPGST-E)