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Life cycle assessment of polychlorinated biphenyl contaminated soil remediation processes

  • LCA OF WASTE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
  • Published:
The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

A life-cycle assessment (LCA) was performed to evaluate the environmental impacts of the remediation of industrial soils contaminated by polychlorobiphenyl (PCB). Two new bioremediation treatment options were compared with the usual incineration process. In this attributional LCA, only secondary impacts were considered. The contaminated soil used for the experiments contained 200 mg of PCB per kilogram.

Methods

Three off-site treatment scenarios were studied: 1) bioremediation with mechanical aeration, 2) bioremediation with electric aeration and 3) incineration with natural gas. Bioremediation processes were designed from lab-scale, scale-up and pilot experiments. The incineration technique was inspired by a French plant. A semi-quantitative uncertainty analysis was performed on the data. Environmental impacts were evaluated with the CML 2001 method using the SimaPro software.

Results and discussion

In most compared categories, the bioremediation processes are favorable. Of the bioremediation options, the lowest environmental footprint was observed for electric aeration. The uncertainty analysis supported the results that compared incineration and bioremediation but decreased the difference between the options of aeration. The distance of transportation was one of the most sensitive parameters, especially for bioremediation. At equal distances between the polluted sites and the treatment plant, bioremediation had fewer impacts than incineration in eight out of 13 categories.

Conclusions

The use of natural gas for the incineration process generated the most impacts. Irrespective of the aeration option, bioremediation was better than incineration. The time of treatment should be taken into account. More precise and detailed data are required for the incineration scenario. More parameters of biological treatments should be measured. LCA results should be completed using ecological and health risk assessment and an acceptability evaluation.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Agence Nationale pour la Recherche et la Technologie (French National Agency for Research) for their financial support under the aegis of a CIFRE thesis contract (n° de convention 0046/2007).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CATAR-CRITT Agroressources, 4 Allee Emile Monso, 31030, Toulouse, France

    Guillaume Busset

  2. VALGO, 81 rue Jacques Babinet, 31100, Toulouse, France

    Matthieu Sangely & Laurent Thannberger

  3. Universite de Toulouse, INP, LCA (Laboratoire de Chimie Agro-Industrielle), ENSIACET, 4 Allee Emile Monso, 31030, Toulouse, France

    Matthieu Sangely & Caroline Sablayrolles

  4. INRA, LCA (Laboratoire de Chimie Agro-Industrielle), 31029, Toulouse, France

    Matthieu Sangely, Mireille Montrejaud-Vignoles & Caroline Sablayrolles

Authors
  1. Guillaume Busset
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  2. Matthieu Sangely
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  3. Mireille Montrejaud-Vignoles
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  4. Laurent Thannberger
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  5. Caroline Sablayrolles
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Caroline Sablayrolles.

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Responsible editor: Shabbir Gheewala

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Busset, G., Sangely, M., Montrejaud-Vignoles, M. et al. Life cycle assessment of polychlorinated biphenyl contaminated soil remediation processes. Int J Life Cycle Assess 17, 325–336 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-011-0366-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-011-0366-7

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