Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Oxidation from Concentrates Issued from an Attrition Process of Polluted Soil Using the Fenton Reagent and Permanganate Malika Bendouz & Justine Dionne & Lan Huong Tran & Lucie Coudert & Guy Mercier & Jean-François Blais Received: 11 August 2016 /Accepted: 7 February 2017 /Published online: 25 February 2017 # Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2017 Abstract This study was conducted to determine the optimal conditions for PAH degradation from highly contaminated attrition sludge (PAC) using a Fenton process or successive permanganate (KMnO 4 ) oxida- tion and Fenton processes. The following parameters were studied to optimize the Fenton oxidation process: the amounts of reactants based on the stoichiometric oxidant demand (SOD), the reactant addition protocol and number of doses, and the solid/liquid ratio (S/L). The results showed that the following conditions were optimum: TS = 30%, 7.5 times SOD, H 2 O 2 /Fe 2+ ratio = 10, and added five times during 60 min, which allowed the degradation of 43% of total 27 PAHs from the PAC. Successive Fenton and KMnO 4 oxidation processes were also tested. PAH degradation using a sequential Fenton process followed by KMnO 4 oxida- tion (or KMnO 4 followed by Fenton) was higher than for the use of Fenton or KMnO 4 treatment alone. Up to 71% of the total 27 PAHs were degraded when using a combination of both processes. It appeared that the sequential treatment is a viable method for the signifi- cant degradation of 27 PAHs from PAC (t value > 2.77). Keywords Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) . Fenton . Permanganate oxidation . Attrition sludge . Degradation 1 Introduction Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are organic compounds that are ubiquitous in the environment but nonessential for the growth of plants, animals, or humans. Several PAHs have a hazardous carcinogenic and mutagenic potential (CCME 2008). These com- pounds are generated by the incomplete combustion of organic matter (Richter and Howard 2000). The main sources of PAHs are anthropogenic and include petro- leum refineries, the combustion of refuse, oil/gasoline spills, tobacco smoke, and coke production (Bansal and Kim 2015). The presence of environmental PAHs can also be due to forest fires, which are the major natural source of PAHs in Canada (Government of Canada 2017). PAH compounds are characterized by their low solubility in water, low volatility, and high molecular Water Air Soil Pollut (2017) 228: 115 DOI 10.1007/s11270-017-3292-x M. Bendouz : J. Dionne : L. H. Tran : L. Coudert : G. Mercier : J.<F. Blais (*) Institut national de la recherche scientifique (Centre Eau, Terre et Environnement), Université du Québec, 490 rue de la Couronne, Québec, QC G1K 9A9, Canada e-mail: blaisjf@ete.inrs.ca M. Bendouz e-mail: malika.bendouz@ete.inrs.ca J. Dionne e-mail: justine.dionne@ete.inrs.ca L. H. Tran e-mail: lan.huong.tran@ete.inrs.ca L. Coudert e-mail: lucie.coudert@ete.inrs.ca G. Mercier e-mail: guy.mercier@ete.inrs.ca