Environmental emission impact from transport during soil remediation

Paper in proceeding, 2012

The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency has identified more than 80 000 potentially contaminated sites in Sweden. One of these is the “former Hexion site” in Mölndal, south of Gothenburg. The property was bought by the construction company NCC in order to build a new housing area. On the site industrial production has been performed for almost 200 years. The products have been chemicals, e g binders for the coatings industry and plastics additives like phthalates. Measured concentrations of pollutants exceed the EPA’s general guidelines on “sensitive land use” and a remediation is necessary. The aim of the present study has been to perform a life cycle assessment of the environmental impact caused by excavation, transports and purification in the remediation, comparing three remediation strategies: Insitu, Exsitu and Exsitu in combination with onsite. Four different options for transportation and receiver/treatment have been analyzed. Exsitu methods were found to cause a much larger environmental load than the insitu. Emissions from the remediation may be reduced by reducing the volume of contaminated soil before transport to landfill. This can be done by pre-treating the soil onsite with sifting or soil washing. Sea transport leads to a high environmental impact. Future reduction of emissions from shipping will make shipping a more competitive choice.