Several remediation procedures for soils contaminated with heavy metals are based on decontamination or stabilization. The selection of one of them for a given site should take data regarding the site and the contaminating agent, contamination degree, future use of the site and the economic viability of remediation process into account. The Mercantil Ingá Company, located in the municipality of Itaguaí - RJ, Brazil, has extracted zinc from calamine through hydrometallurgy. During 31 years, the company improperly disposed of about three million tons of hazardous residues in its area. One of the stages of the zinc extraction process consists of the addition of arsenic trioxide for the removal of impurities and the soil was contaminated with arsenic from areas near sites where the hazardous residues were disposed. In this context, this study evaluated the ex situ remediation technique through removal by leaching the contaminated soil with arsenic, and the treatment of the effluent generated. The fractioning showed that the pH reduction increased the arsenic retention. The potassium dihydrogenophosphate concentration in 0.4 mol L-1 seemed to be efficient in the removal of the arsenic present in the contaminated soil, achieving the dissolution of about 70% of this element at pH 6.2. The ferric chloride was more efficient than the aluminum sulphate for the removal, through coagulation, of the arsenic present in the effluent generated in the soil leaching.
remedition ex situ; Cia. Mercantil Ingá; coagulation; ferric chloride; aluminum sulphate
