Hyundai E&C has completed its first purification project of large-scale dioxin-contaminated soil in Korea.

Korea’s leading builder recently has announced that it successfully completed a project to clean up contaminated soil of 11,031 ㎥ of the U.S. military return base "Camp Market" located in Bupyeong, Incheon, in two years and 11 months. As the Bucheon Camp Market purification project was carried out in the middle of the city where residential areas are concentrated, citizens were concerned about exposure to dioxins during the cleanup process as well as noise and safety issues. To address these concerns, Hyundai E&C used “IPTD, In-Pile Thermal Desorption” and “Thermal Oxidation” and safely and effectively removed the first-class carcinogens, dioxin.

The IPTD, which is an eco-friendly method, operates in a completely enclosed form by separating dioxin from soil and purifying it using a heating system and is very unlikely to expose dioxin dust and vapor to the outside during the purification process. If a heating rod is installed in a pile of soil made of contaminated soil to heat up the temperature of the soil to 335 degrees, dioxin of the soil is extracted in the form of vapor. The steam extracted in this way is again subjected to a “thermal oxidation process" in which high heat of 1000°C or higher is applied in a thermal oxidation facility. This allows dioxin to be completely oxidized, and only gases with no harmful substance are emitted. In particular, in order to prevent high-temperature steam and fine dust from occurring in the process of excavating and oxidizing large amounts of purified soil, measures were taken to ensure the safety and working environment of workers by making available gas masks, dustproof suits, and spray facilities. Through these efforts, Hyundai E&C has achieved a technically flawless dioxin-contaminated soil purification that lowers the dioxin concentrations of the contaminated soil at the Bucheon Camp Market to 2.18 pg(picogram), far below than the 100 pg* target.

* 1 pg(picogram): 1 trillionth of a gram

Meanwhile, Hyundai E&C has an extensive track record of soil purification projects, including the “Gwangju Non-sanitary Landfill Pollution Soil Cleaning Project” in 2001, the “Gyeongbu High Speed Railway Polluted Soil Purification Work” and the “Janghang Smelter Soil Purification Project”. It has also participated in the "Fluoro-polluted Soil Purification Project in Kitakyushu, Japan" and conducted R&D projects regarding “Purification and recycling of contaminated dredged soil in Singapore” by collaborating with domestic and foreign institutions such as “JTC, Jurong Town Corporation” and “NTU, Nanyang Technical University.” As such, the company is accelerating efforts to secure the world's leading soil purification technology. Built on these efforts, Hyundai E&C is driving technological development, as 30 patents related to the development of contaminated soil purification technology have been registered, and a total of three new environmental technologies have been certified by the Ministry of Environment.

Hyundai E&C, leveraging its highest level of contaminated soil purification technology, plans to actively undertake overseas soil purification projects as well as work for U.S. military base in Yongsan, Korea, with an ambition to also thrive as an environment player leading the soil purification technology.

"We were concerned about the fact that it was the first large-scale dioxin-contaminated soil project in Korea, but achieved spotless purification without pollution impact," a Hyundai E&C official said. "Based on such achievement, we plan to actively undertake relevant projects to restore the contaminated environment."