Ex-situ Treatment of Contaminated Soil – the Dutch Experience

This paper reviews the development of ex-situ soil treatment technologies over the last 20 years, against the background of developing legislation and market forces. Legislation along the lines of site remediation, soil treatment, landfilling and reuse was developed and improved in the eighties and nineties. In addition, substantial budgets were made available by the national government to tackle the remediation of contaminated sites. This stirred the development of soil treatment technologies. As a result of an intensive learning process, the market is now considered to be mature. The more relevant aspects of the soil market (in 2001) are gathered in the table below. TECHNOLOGY THROUGHPUT [kton/year] COSTS [Euro/ton] FACILITIES [number] Thermal treatment 725 35-60 3 Biological treatment 265 20-40 24 Soil washing 855 20-45 25 Immobilisation 150-250 40-45 12 Landfilling 550 40-70 40 Reuse untreated soil 9000 2-7 20 Reuse treated soil 1500 0-3 Presently, both public and private players are heavily focused on quality control and assurance. In concert, certification schemes for processes (e.g. treatment, remediation) and products (e.g. reusable soil) are being developed and implemented. Regular, independent auditing of these certification schemes yields enhanced customer confidence and improved compliance with legislation.