Heavily contaminated soil or sediment is degraded anaerobically, producing methane, which can be collected for use or sale. Less contaminated sediments are degraded aerobically to CO 2 and water. Heavy metals are extracted and concentrated for recycling or resale. The cleaned soil can be used for fill, compost, manufactured soil, and manufactured brick. Heavy metals extracted through the process can be recycled or reused.
Salt water is washed away, leaving soil suitable for tree planting and reforestation.
Dredged water is cleaned and available for reuse. This soil washer system incorporated a multi-stage, continuous countercurrent extractor for soils high in oil content, an oil and water stripper, and two distillation trains. Iron product was separated from the waste sludge for recycling, clean oil was collected for sale and reuse, solvent was recovered for recycling, and water was pre-treated for disposal. In a separate evaluation, sediments from Newtown Creek in New York have been treated successfully on a pilot scale. We pride ourselves on designing processes that are clean, complete, and inexpensive when compared to competing technologies.