Application of a peroxymonosulfate/cobalt (PMS/Co(II)) system to treat diesel-contaminated soil

We investigated the feasibility of using peroxymonosulfate (PMS) with transition metals (PMS/M+ system) for remediation of diesel-contaminated soils. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to apply a PMS/M+ system for the treatment of diesel-contaminated soils. Two well-known transition metals, Fe(II) and Co(II), used to activate PMS including the effect of co-existence of counter anions (Cl− and SO42-) were tested and it revealed that the most effective degradation of diesel was achieved with cobalt chloride. The effect of PMS (i.e. 0–500 mM) indicated that the increasing the molar ratio of PMS/diesel increased degradation of diesel on soils. The effect of Co(II) (i.e. 0–4 mM) showed that at least 2 mM of Co(II) was needed to degrade above 30% of diesel. Moreover, a maximum diesel degradation of 47% was achieved at a single injection of PMS/Co(II) (i.e. 500 mM/2 mM). Assessments of system pH showed that diesel degradation was higher under acidic conditions (pH 3) possibly due to the dissolution of metal ions from soils that are not possible at other pHs (pH 6 and 9). Sequential injections of both PMS and Co(II) were employed to improve the level of remediation (∼90% degradation). The degradation of diesel increased as much as 88% when PMS/Co(II) was sequentially injected. This indicates that PMS/Co(II) systems are applicable for remediation of soil contaminated with diesel fuel as an aspect of in situ chemical oxidation.