Abstract: An apparatus for treating contaminated soil is disclosed. The apparatus includes a reactor vessel for holding a volume of water which is subdivided into a first chamber and a second chamber. The chambers are in fluid communication and are partially separated by a baffle. A soil conveyor is provided for conveying a supply of the contaminated soil to the first chamber. A gas supply directs a supply of pressurized gas into the first chamber, thereby creating a turbulent mixture of soil and water in the first chamber to effect segregation of the soil into a substantially small particle size first fraction and a substantially large particle size second fraction. The reactor vessel includes a first outlet located in a lower portion of the second chamber for withdrawing a slurry comprising the second soil fraction from the reactor vessel. The lower portion of the second chamber may be funnel-shaped to help direct the mixture of soil and water toward the first outlet.

Abstract: A mobile apparatus and method for treating contaminated soil is disclosed. The apparatus consists of three interconnected subunits, namely a fluidized bed reactor for segregating an aqueous soil slurry based on particle size; a metals extraction unit for removing heavy metals and other contaminants from the contaminated soil fraction; and a water treatment system utilizing a high density sludge process to remove metals from the contaminated aqueous phase. The fluidized bed reactor includes a relatively small mixing chamber and a relatively large settling chamber which are partially separated by a baffle. Pressurized gas and foaming agent are dispersed into the mixing chamber to segregate the soil particles into a first fraction containing relatively small, contaminated soil particles and a second fraction containing relatively large, uncontaminated soil particles.