From Laboratory to Industrial Scale: Composting of Polluted Soils from Former Coal Industry and Gas Plants: Future Research Needs

Activities related to coking and, more generally, to transformation of coal, have been quite varied and underwent an intense evolution from the 18th to the 20th century. The pollutants which are likely to be present in the soils at these sites depend on the type of products being made at the site, the technical knowledge at the time of production, and the environmental policy of the company. More than thirty techniques of treatment of polluted soil from similar sites have been described and summarized in reviews published on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) [1–4]. The various treatment techniques can be classified into three main categories according to their action on the pollutants: — chemical or physical immobilization— extraction from the soil matrix— destruction