A study on the remediation of heavily Fe ion contaminated soils from abandoned iron mine was carried out, using ex-situ extraction process. Also, oxalic acid as a complex agent was evaluated as a function of concentration, reaction time and mixing ratio of washing agent in order to evaluate Fe removability of the soil contaminated from the abandoned iron mine.
Oxalic acid showed a better extraction performance than 0.1N-HCI, i.e., the concentrations of Fe ion extracted from the abandoned mine for the former at uncontrolled pH and the latter were 1,750 ppm and 1,079 ppm, respectively. The optimum washing condition of oxalic acid was in the ratio of 1:5 and 1:10 between soil and acid solution during 1 hr reaction. The total concentrations of Fe ion by oxalic acid and EDTA at three repeated extraction, were 4,554 ppm and 864 ppm, respectively.
The recovery of Fe ions from washing solution was achieved, forming hydroxide precipitation and metal sulfide under excess of calcium hydroxide and sodium sulfide. In addition, the amounted of sodium sulfide and calcium hydroxide for the optimal recovery of Fe were 15g/ℓ and 5g/ℓ from the oxalic acid complexes, respectively.