A review on the efficiency of landfarming integrated with composting as a soil remediation treatment

ABSTRACT

Landfarming is an attractive bioremediation treatment approach for soils contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), since it is less expensive and more environmentally friendly than other soil remediation methods. PAHs are contaminants of concern due to their potentially harmful effects on human health. Therefore interest in developing removal methods has grown in the last few decades. These persistent and hydrophobic organic pollutants are commonly found at high concentrations in soils contaminated by industrial activities and nearby urban areas, and these hazardous situations make their removal even more urgent. This paper reviews the efficiency and application conditions of landfarming as a suitable bioremediation treatment. Moreover, this work discusses the feasibility of improving the bioremediation performance when landfarming is combined with biostimulation and bioaugmentation promoted by the composting of organic waste. This integration of landfarming and composting creates more favorable conditions for biological activity and has been shown to be both effective and economical in removing organic pollutants from contaminated soils.

KEYWORDS:

• Landfarming technology
• polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
• bioremediation
• composting
• biostimulation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the European Commission (Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorate Programme ETeCoS3: Environmental Technologies for Contaminated Solids, Soils and Sediments) [grant number FPA n° 2010-0009].