Environmental and economic performance of chemical and biological processes for treating petroleum hydrocarbon-contaminated soil: An experimental study

Over the past ten years, researchers have applied various approaches to treat petroleum hydrocarbon-contaminated soil and assess its performance based on removal efficiencies and not on its environmental and economic impacts. In this study, the environmental and economic performances of the operational stages of electro-Fenton and bio-slurry technologies are investigated and compared using a life cycle assessment to assess the environmental and economic performances in treating petroleum hydrocarbon-polluted soil. The data used in this study were collected from primary and secondary sources, and the potential 18 environmental impacts were calculated using the ReCiPe 2016 characterization approach in SimaPro 9.5 software. The electro-Fenton process is the most environmentally friendly method, identifying chemicals and energy as major contributors to the environmental impact. Energy is the main hotspot, accounting for 90 % of the total environmental impact. Energy and biosurfactants are the main environmental hotspots in bioslurry processes, accounting for 60 % of the total. The bioslurry process has the highest environmental impact owing to the use of biosurfactants and electricity consumption. The bioslurry process is the most cost-effective, with a life-cycle cost of 7.13$/kg, while the electro-Fenton technique is the most expensive (661.25$/kg) owing to the use of BDD as the electrode, costing 323$/kg.