Contaminated Land Remediation and Waste Management

Key staff: Dr Paula Carey and Dr Colin Hills

Set up in 1999, the Centre for Contaminated Land Remediation aims to provide a focus for research and training on remediation of contaminated land and treatment of industrial wastes.

Our expertise covers site investigation techniques, including analytical tools and geographic information system (GIS) methods, the regulatory framework for the clean-up of contaminated land and for groundwater and waste management, on-site pollutant behaviour, and, particularly, remediation techniques.

Research has concentrated on stabilisation and solidification techniques in the treatment of contaminated soils and industrial wastes, and the removal of various wastes from disposal to landfill.

Recent projects

• Immobilisation of priority pollutants in cementitious binders.
• The long-term durability of stabilised/solidified waste forms.
• Application of geomaterials in environmental engineering.
• Carbonate remediation technologies.
• Application of accelerated carbonation to the management of contaminated soils and wastes.
• Use of petrography in the construction industry.
• Use of accelerated carbonation technology (ACT) to improve chemical and physical characteristics of soils and wastes.
• Sequestration of CO2 in wastes to produce stable construction materials.

Publications

Pellegrini, F., Hills, C. D., Carey, P. J., Gardner, K. H., and Maries, A. (2006) Sorption and desorption of Cd, Co, Cu, Ni and Zn by carbonated portland cement. Advances in Applied Ceramics (Invited Paper), 205 (4), pp. 185–191.

Scuzzarella, A., Fernandez-Bertos, A. M., Simons, S. J. R., Hills, C. D., and Carey, P. J. (2006) Expansion of Cohesive Gas Fluidized Binary Solid Systems. Powder Technology, 163, 1–2, 25, pp. 18–22.

Shtepenko, O., Hills, C. D., Thomas, M., and Brough, A. (2006) The Effect of Carbon Dioxide on Dicalcium Silicate and Portland Cement. Chemical Engineering Journal, 118, pp. 107–118.

Shtepenko, O., Hills, C. D., Coleman, N. J., and Brough, A. (2005) Characterisation and Preliminary Assessment of a Sorbent Produced by the Accelerated Carbonation of Calcium Silicate/Aluminate Mixtures. Environmental Science and Technology, 36, pp. 345–354.

Fernández Bertos, M., Simons, S. J. R., Hills, C. D., and Carey, P. J. (2004) A Review of Accelerated Carbonation Technology in the Treatment of Cement-based Materials and Sequestration of CO2. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 112 (3) pp. 193–205.

Fernández Bertos, M., Li, X., Simons, S. J. R., Hills, C. D., and Carey, P. J. (2004) Sequestration of CO2 through Accelerated Carbonation Technology: Preliminary Investigations into the Carbonation of MSW Incinerator Ashes. Green Chemistry, 6, pp. 428–436.