Abstract
[Display omitted]
•The optimal steel converter slag load was determined as 80gkg−1..•High initial H2O2 concentrations caused a sharp increase in soil temperature.•93.7% of atrazine in the soil was degraded with a 3-time addition of 10% H2O2.•Steel converter slag catalyzed Fenton-like oxidation slightly increased soil pH.•A considerable amount of dissolved organic carbon released during the treatment.
This is the premier study reporting the remediation of atrazine contaminated soil with steel converter slag (SCS) catalyzed Fenton-like process. The effects of various operating parameters, such as SCS loads and H2O2 concentrations were evaluated with respect to the removal efficiency of atrazine. Results show the optimal SCS load and H2O2 concentration were 80gkg−1 and 10%, respectably. The graded modified Fenton’s oxidation with a 3-time addition of 10% H2O2 was able to remove 93.7% of total atrazine in the contaminated soil and maintain soil temperature within 50°C. In contrast to traditional Fenton treatment, a slight pH increase has been observed due to the addition of SCS. More importantly, experiment conducted at natural conditions with SCS gave the similar atrazine removal to the experiments with the other catalysts (e.g., FeSO4 and Fe2O3). One thing should be noted that after the treatment, dissolved organic carbon (DOC) content increased to 1.206gkg−1 from an initial value of 0.339gkg−1.