Lowering temperature to increase chemical oxidation efficiency: the effect of temperature on permanganate oxidation rates of five types of well defined organic matter, two natural soils, and three pure phase products.

In situ chemical oxidation (ISCO) is a soil remediation technique to remove organic pollutants from soil and groundwater with oxidants, like KMnO4. However, also natural organic compounds in soils are being oxidized, which makes the technique less efficient. Laboratory experiments were performed to investigate the influence of temperature on this efficiency, through its effect on the relative oxidation rates - by permanganate - of natural organic compounds and organic pollutants at 16 and 15°C. Specific types of organic matter used were cellulose, oak wood, anthracite, reed - and forest peat, in addition to two natural soils. Dense Non-Aqueous Phase Liquid-tetrachloroethene (DNAPL-PCE), DNAPL trichloroethene (DNAPL-TCE) and a mixture of DNAPL-PCE, -TCE and -hexachlorobutadiene were tested as pollutants. Compared to 16°C, oxidation was slower at 5°C for the specific types of organic matter and the natural soils, with exception of anthracite, which was unreactive. The oxidation rate of DNAPL TCE was lower at 5°C too. However, at this temperature oxidation was fast, implying that no competitive loss to natural organic compounds will be expected in field applications by lowering temperature. Oxidation of DNAPL-PCE and PCE in the mixture proceeded at equal rates at both temperatures, due to the dissolution rate as limiting factor. These results show that applying permanganate ISCO to DNAPL contamination at lower temperatures will limit the oxidation of natural organic matter, without substantially affecting the oxidation rate of the contaminant. This will make such remediation more effective and sustainable in view of protecting natural soil quality.