Study on Remediation of Railroad Ballast Gravels Polluted by Oils and Heavy Metals

초록

Many railroad fields are polluted by heavy metals (e.g., Cd, Cu, As, Pb, Cr, Fe, etc.) and oils (e.g., diesel, lubricant, etc.). Especially, railroad ballast gravels are more heavily polluted since they are exposed to the heavy metals and oils directly. In addition, the polluted ballast gravels also causes the spreading of pollutants to the lower track and nearby yard. For this reason, the remediation of railroad ballast gravels is very important. However, conventional water washing method is not efficient for washing, and this method leaves a large amount of wastewater during washing. A novel dry cleaning method was introduced for the treatment of these ballast gravels in this study. Media made of alumina and emery was blasted on the surface of the polluted ballast gravels to remove the pollutants on the surface (Fig. 1.). The effects of treatment time on the remediation of ballast gravels polluted by various pollutants were studied.