Soil remediation apparatus

An apparatus for the decontamination of soil which is contaminated with petroleum products and the like and comprising

• a rotary drum dryer defining a central axis, with said central axis being inclined with respect to the horizontal so as to define an upper inlet end for receiving particulate material to be processed and a lower discharge end for discharging the material therefrom, burner means for delivering heated gases into said lower discharge end of said dryer, an air exhaust duct adjacent the upper inlet end of said dryer for the removal of the heated gases and any entrained dust particles from the interior of said dryer,
• drive means for rotating said dryer about said central axis so as to convey the particulate material from said inlet end to said discharge end in a cascading fashion as the dryer rotates,
• air cleaning means connected to said air exhaust duct of said dryer for removing the dust particles from the gases removed from said dryer,
• enclosure means fixedly mounted so as to enclose the discharge end of said dryer and such that the heated particulate material which is discharged from said discharge end is received therein,
• means for conveying the dust particles removed by said air cleaning means into said enclosure means, and
• means for intermixing the heated particulate material and the dust particles received in said enclosure means and removing the resulting mixture from said enclosure means.

A method of decontaminating soil and comprising the steps of

• providing a rotary drum dryer having a material inlet end and a material discharge end,
• passing contaminated soil through the drum dryer from the material inlet end to the material discharge end, while rotating the dryer about its axis and passing a heated gas stream through the dryer and so that the soil cascades through the heated gas stream and is heated to a temperature sufficient to volatilize substantially all of the contaminants therein,
• discharging the heated and decontaminated soil from the discharge end of the rotating dryer and into a stationary enclosure which surrounds the discharge end of the dryer,
• withdrawing the heated gas stream and any entrained dust particles from the rotating dryer and passing the same through a particulate separator so as to separate the entrained dust particles,
• conveying the separated dust particles into said enclosure, and
• mixing the heated decontaminated soil and the returned dust particles in said enclosure and so that the dust particles are heated so as to cause substantially all of any remaining contaminants therein to be volatilized.