Flushing of ethylbenzene-contaminated clayey soil using tergitol

The removal of ethylbenzene (a representative of the BTEX group) from soil with 50% fines content using the non-ionic surfactant Tergitol is investigated. Results indicated a 0.5 to 0.75 orders of magnitude drop in k with the introduction of surfactant concentrations of 0.5% and 1% respectively, Such a reduction was not observed for the case where 0.1% surfactant concentration was used. Possible reasons for the drop in hydraulic conductivity that were discussed included viscosity, pore size, micelle size, and precipitation effects. The percent of ethylbenzene removal was measured at approximately 85% using a 1% Tergitol solution for 10 pore volumes of flushing. The 10 pore volumes of flushing were circulated through the test specimens in 21 days.