Soil Washing/Flushing Treatments of Organic Pollutants Enhanced by Cyclodextrins and Integrated Treatments: State of the Art

Soils contaminated by hydrophobic organic pollutants are a common concern because they are extremely difficult to remove and their potential toxicological impacts are significant. As an alternative to traditional pump-and-treat technologies, soil washing and soil flushing are conceivable and efficient approaches. Extracting agents such as cyclodextrins are compared to traditional surfactants, cosolvents, and less conventional agents. Ability of cyclodextrin derivatives to form a ternary pollutant-cyclodextrin-iron complex allows discussing about promising integrated treatments requiring modified Fenton treatments such as electro-Fenton process with or without combination to a biological step and a recirculation loop.