Use of the south Italy lysimeter station for soil remediation studies

Remediation of soil and groundwater contamination by organic chemicals has become an urgent problem. Besides of laboratory studies, real-scale studies are required for the validation of remediation techniques. Our scope is to assess the validity of the lysimeter as a tool for remediation program development. Soil lysimeter will be used as an experimental tool for the study of pollutant transport and degradation in both soil and groundwater at the field-scale, providing the necessary data for 1D-modeling. Variations undergone by the autochthonous microflora under the effect of contaminant addition will be monitored, as well. The soil lysimeter will aid the implementation of in situ bioremediation techniques, such as bioventing, air sparging, biostimulation, bioaugmentation, phytoremediation. All these general remarks have been taken into account in defining the layout of the AMRA multiple-lysimeter installation (built in Piana di Monte Verna, Caserta, Italy). It consists in eight units that operate individually and simultaneously. Programmable hydraulic systems are provided to simulate the fluctuations in water-table level, as well a complete set of sensors that enable the continuous monitoring of crucial parameters, including the soil sample weight, temperature, humidity, water tension. Sampling ports for gas, water, and soil off-line chemical analysis can be envisaged or on-line sensors can be used for some analytes. As of now, four units contain an uncontaminated agricultural soil (from a nearby field) and four an industrial soil (from the dismissed industrial site ILVA Bagnoli, Napoli). Two case studies have been selected to assess the validity of the lysimeter as a tool for remediation program development: 1) monitoring of a soil subject to periodic releases of olive mill waste water and 2) reactive transport of a crude oil spill