Description
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The research project is focused on the treatment of soils contaminated by hydrocarbons by an innovative device that should represent the solution to many logistical problems that make difficult the “on site” treatment. The device (DIMODI) that the project want to develop consists in a mobile unit, installed on truck, completely self-sufficient and not at all cumbersome, able to permit emergency safety and remediation in reasonable short times and low cost actions.
By such a device, in which complex exchange heat-matter phenomena occur, we want to develop an innovative system to put in touch the soil and the desorption gaseous flow and specifically we want to use a fluidized bed reactor directly fed by the exhaust gases coming out from the engine of the truck on which the apparatus is placed.
Such a device, would produce an “on site” technology for hydrocarbon substances’ removal, which would represent, thanks to its technical specifications also concerning mobility and versatility, a solution of great interest to many logistical problems that make difficult the treatment today; moreover, it would furnish the optimization of a technology particularly indicated for treatment processes of refractory pollutants, such as hydrocarbons, which often cause severe contamination of soils due to improper storage methods, accidental surface spills, or even losses from reservoirs.
In this frame, the project is part of interventions aimed to the protection and regeneration of the territory by stimulating research insights that start from a technical and economic evaluation of the problem and, propose innovative solutions with potential application in the field and consistent with the most innovative intervention methods of decontamination as requested by the EU, national and regional programming.
The considered research activities intend to achieve decisive results in terms of research and technological development for each of the stages involved in the considered treatment process. In particular:
- shredding/pulverizing of the removed soil: the soil should be reduced to such a size able to be fluidized by a high temperature gas flow;
- desorption of volatile and semi-volatile organic contaminants: made possible by the direct contact air/solid particles on the soil in exit from crushing section, contact made by a fluidized bed reactor, where you plan to use the engine exhaust gases as fluidization gas;
- particulates separation, constituted by the thinnest phase of the soil, from the fumes: to be achieved by a battery of cyclones, these powders can be returned to the site of origin;
- smoke treatment: removal of the hydrocarbon vapors removed from the soil and from the subtle and ultra-subtle particulate before the drainage in atmosphere, it can be taken in consideration a section of heat exchange for a greater thermal efficiency.
The final Objective of the project is to design and build a demonstrator complete device capable of treating, maximum values of the speed of treatment, up to 10 t/h.
Research and development, as well as the exploitation of scientific and technical implications of the project, assume a fruitful and continuous interaction between skills and knowledge in various technology areas, which will be pursued in the project from a planned close collaboration at every stage of the same between universities and SMEs.
Moreover, the socio-economic interest of the research, as it will better emphasized in the following, is not only in the high added value that would derive from the fact that the participant PMI will be able to use in future a similar apparatus in order to carry out extremely effective and low cost actions, but also having on the market an instrument at low environmental impact surely interesting for the customers to use it in all the areas being interested from operations of adduction or stocking of hydrocarbons, among them: the refueling stations, that need fast safety actions.
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