Hydrocarbon contaminated soil remediation: A comparison between Fenton, sono-Fenton, photo-Fenton and sono-photo-Fenton processes

Abstract Contaminated soil via crude oil was remediated through advanced oxidative process. A combination of ultraviolet and ultrasonic irradiation enhanced by Fenton reagents was presented as a promising method with high efficiency for this purpose. The total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) removing was designated by central composite design (CCD) to operate at room temperature for 15 gkg−1 contaminant. The initial contaminant concentration, hydrogen peroxide concentration, reaction time and finally nano zero valent iron (NZVI) dosage were optimized to obtain high removal efficiency. It was found that sono-photo-Fenton oxidation has the highest removal efficiency among other methods.