3.1. The Effect of Temperature on Mineral Oil Removal Efficiency
The traditional heating method utilizes direct resistance heating. Through thermal radiation, the temperature of the soil layers near the resistance element rises first and then gradually conducts outward to the inner layers of the soil. This heating method causes excessively high temperatures near the heat source. Once heating is stopped, the heat near the source dissipates slowly, leading to significant temperature differences between the interior and exterior of the soil. As a result, the removal efficiency of pollutants in different soil locations varies considerably. Unlike conventional heating, microwaves rely on the high-frequency rotation of internal polar molecules, generating heat through friction. The internal temperature rises rapidly and is transmitted to the surface through polar molecules. Due to minimal influence from external temperatures, heat loss is reduced, resulting in more uniform heating and a faster temperature increase compared to traditional resistance heating [
22,
23].
Figure 2 shows the effect of different heating methods on the removal efficiency of pollutants for 100 g of contaminated soil under the conditions of a heating power of 1000 W, pollutant concentration of 9.76 wt%, and moisture content of 11.22 wt%, using temperature sensor data located in the middle of the soil reactor. As the temperature increases, the removal rates of mineral oil by microwave heating and conventional resistance heating both show an upward trend. When the temperature increases from 50°C to 300°C, the removal rate of mineral oil by microwave heating rises from 52.86% to 96.38%, while the removal rate by conventional resistance heating increases from 28.55% to 93.35%. The efficiency of microwave desorption is higher than that of resistance heating. Under the same power, due to differences in the heating mechanism, the soil temperature increase rate under microwave heating is faster than under conventional heating. This causes the energy absorbed by the mineral oil during microwave heating to be higher at the same temperature, resulting in a higher removal rate compared to conventional heating. As the heating temperature increases, the evaporation of moisture in the soil helps carry the mineral oil out, improving the removal rate of the oil. The increase in temperature also promotes the generation of hydroxyl radicals in the soil, which further aids in the decomposition of the mineral oil. When the temperature increases from 50°C to 150°C, the removal rate of mineral oil through conventional thermal desorption rises from 28.55% to 91.32%, while microwave heating increases the removal rate from 52.86% to 94.11%. This indicates that microwave heating achieves better pollutant removal even at lower temperatures. However, when the temperature increases from 200°C to 300°C, the degradation trends of mineral oil by both microwave and conventional resistance heating begin to plateau, with the removal rates stabilizing around 96% for microwave heating and 93% for conventional heating. The difference in removal rates between the two methods becomes smaller at higher temperatures. This is because water, as a polar molecule, largely evaporates once the temperature reaches a certain level, no longer playing a significant role in absorbing heat and facilitating pollutant removal. As a result, the removal rate of organic matter stabilizes compared to lower temperatures [
24]. The moisture content in the soil after microwave thermal desorption is lower than that in soil treated with conventional resistance heating. This is because water, as a polar molecule, absorbs more microwave energy, resulting in a higher temperature in the microwave-treated soil system compared to the conventional heating system at the same temperature. Consequently, the evaporation of water molecules is greater with microwave heating. The water in the soil consists of free water and bound water, with the free water being the primary component that absorbs microwave energy and raises the system's temperature. As the temperature increases, the free water absorbs the microwave energy, heats up, and evaporates, leaving a small amount of bound water remaining in the soil. Therefore, as the temperature rises, the remaining moisture content in the soil gradually levels off. At higher temperatures, the organic pollutants in the soil undergo thermal decomposition, producing smaller molecules or secondary pollutants. These decomposition products may re-adsorb onto the soil surface. The adsorption sites where these molecules adhere remain stable even at elevated temperatures. As a result, further temperature increases do not significantly enhance the removal rate of pollutants, leading to a plateau in removal efficiency [
25].
3.3. Comparative Study on Soil Physical and Chemical Properties
Heat treatment causes changes in the physicochemical properties of soil, which can impact the potential for soil reuse. For instance, organic matter in the soil can degrade through volatilization, carbonization, and oxidation at excessively high temperatures. Soil adsorption of organic compounds mainly consists of mineral action and organic matter adsorption. A significant loss of organic matter can reduce the mobility and biodegradability of organic compounds in the environment, thereby decreasing the soil's self-purification capacity.
Table 2 shows the changes in organic matter content in soil after 30 minutes of pyrolysis at 1000 W using both conventional and microwave heating methods. In both heating methods, the soil experienced a loss of organic matter. This occurs because some of the mineral oil is adsorbed by the soil's organic matter and exists in the soil in this form. After 30 minutes of heating, the soil temperature rises, causing the desorption of the mineral oil. Furthermore, at higher temperatures after 30 minutes of heating, some organic components in the soil volatilize, leading to a reduction in organic matter content. Compared to conventional heating, microwave heating results in a smaller loss of organic matter. After conventional heating, the organic matter content in the soil sharply decreases from 6.74% to 1.88%, while after microwave heating, 4.04% of the organic matter remains. This difference is attributed to the higher degradation rate of mineral oil during microwave heating compared to conventional heating. During pyrolysis, mineral oil generates hydrocarbon compounds, which are also measured as organic carbon in organic carbon determinations [
27]. Therefore, when heating organic-polluted soil, microwave heating retains more organic matter compared to conventional heating.
Cation exchange capacity (CEC) is a crucial indicator of soil fertility and is significantly positively correlated with the integrated fertility index (IFI) of soil [
28,
29]. Therefore, studying the changes in CEC under microwave and conventional heating methods provides valuable guidance for the reuse of soil and the selection of degradation methods for organic-contaminated soils. The changes in soil CEC after conventional and microwave heating are shown in
Table 3. After conventional heating, the soil's CEC decreased from 6.27 cmol·kg⁻¹ to 1.37 cmol·kg⁻¹. In contrast, microwave heating resulted in a smaller reduction, with the CEC decreasing from 6.27 cmol·kg⁻¹ to 4.86 cmol·kg⁻¹. CEC in soil is positively correlated with the organic matter content. As the organic matter content decreases, the number of negative charges on soil colloids reduces, leading to a corresponding decline in CEC. Compared with conventional thermal desorption, microwave thermal desorption not only saves time but also causes less damage to soil fertility [
30].
3.4. Study on Desorption Kinetics
In the process of microwave thermal desorption of organic-contaminated soil, both heating temperature and time significantly affect the efficiency of desorption. As the temperature increases, the properties of the pollutants change. The soil, acting as an oxidation-reduction system, facilitates the thermal decomposition and oxidation of pollutants under varying temperatures. Prolonging the heating time allows for more complete degradation of pollutants, thereby improving the removal efficiency. In this section, a kinetic analysis of the thermal desorption process under different temperatures and durations is conducted. The reaction rate constant
k and activation energy
Ea are calculated to compare the ease of thermal desorption under different conditions and to explore the mechanisms behind pollutant removal [
31,
32,
33].
For a single thermal desorption process, the reaction follows a first-order kinetic model. This model is commonly used to study the adsorption and desorption of organic compounds between solid-gas and solid-liquid phases in soil. In their research on low-temperature thermal desorption of organic-contaminated soil, Li et al. combined the kinetic model with the Arrhenius equation, finding that it better describes the dynamic changes of the pollutants [
34]. The kinetic model primarily refers to the reaction rate constant
k being linearly related to the concentration of one or two pollutants. The first-order kinetic model can be expressed as shown in Equation (2):
where:
Ct is the concentration of the organic compound remaining in the soil at a given time
t, in mg·kg⁻¹.
t is the heating time, in minutes.
C0 is the initial concentration of the pollutant in the soil, in mg·kg⁻¹.
k1 is the first-order reaction rate constant.
Taking the natural logarithm (ln) of both sides of the equation simplifies it to Equation (3)
By plotting the relationship between the thermal desorption time ttt and the ratio of concentrations , the reaction rate constant k can be calculated. The slope of the linear plot represents the reaction rate constant k1, as derived from the simplified first-order kinetic model.
Thermal desorption experiments were conducted at a pyrolysis temperature of 250°C using both microwave heating and resistance heating. The desorption of mineral oil was fitted to both first-order and second-order kinetic models for heating durations of 5 min, 10 min, 15 min, 20 min, 25 min, 30 min, 35 min, 40 min, 45 min, 50 min, 55 min, and 60 min. Based on Equation (2), a plot was created, where the slope of the linear line represents the first-order reaction rate constant
k.
Figure 4 illustrates the first-order kinetic model fitting for the thermal desorption of mineral oil using both conventional and microwave heating. The rate constant
k for microwave thermal desorption was determined to be 0.15706 min⁻¹, which is greater than the rate constant for conventional heating k=0.091 min⁻¹. This is attributed to the fact that water molecules, acting as polar molecules, absorb energy and rapidly evaporate in the microwave field, thereby accelerating the desorption of pollutants. This leads to higher removal efficiency during microwave heating and allows the reaction rate constant
k to remain relatively high across different temperatures. The higher
k value for microwave heating indicates that microwave heating is more efficient in promoting pollutant desorption, further supporting the good fit of the first-order kinetic model under microwave heating conditions. Additionally, microwave heating can quickly reach the desired temperature within a shorter time and maintain stable temperature levels. This precise temperature control ensures that the reaction rate does not fluctuate significantly due to temperature variations, leading to a more accurate fit of the first-order kinetic model for the reaction rate constant
k. In contrast, traditional resistance heating relies on thermal conduction, resulting in larger temperature fluctuations. These fluctuations cause greater variability in the reaction rate constant
k across different regions, reducing the fitting accuracy of the kinetic model.
To further investigate the impact of heating temperature on the efficiency of mineral oil desorption using both microwave and conventional heating, the first-order kinetic model was employed, and the reaction activation energy was calculated using the Arrhenius equation [
35]. The desorption experiments were conducted at pyrolysis temperatures of 200°C, 250°C, and 300°C, with heating durations of 10 minutes, 10 minutes, 30 minutes, and 40 minutes, respectively. Soil samples were taken to measure the residual mineral oil content, allowing for a comparison of the desorption efficiency under microwave and conventional resistance heating.
Figure 5 presents the first-order kinetic model fitting results for the desorption of mineral oil under different temperatures for both heating methods. The fitting parameters are shown in
Table 4.
As shown in
Table 4, the correlation coefficient
R2 for microwave thermal desorption of mineral oil is consistently higher than that for resistance heating under the same conditions, indicating a better fitting effect for microwave heating. This is due to the uniformity of microwave heating, which results in more even volatilization of mineral oil from both the surface and deeper layers of the soil, leading to improved fitting accuracy. At the same heating temperatures, the
k values for microwave desorption are consistently higher than those for conventional thermal desorption, suggesting that the reaction rate for microwave desorption is faster than that of conventional resistance heating. Furthermore, as the temperature increases, the
k values for both heating methods increase, indicating that higher temperatures enhance the desorption efficiency of mineral oil. This is primarily because at temperatures above 200°C, the boiling point of mineral oil is reached, and the increase in temperature promotes more evaporation of water, which in turn increases the number of pollutants carried out of the soil. Experimental data shows that under microwave heating, the fitting coefficient
R2 is generally above 0.96, whereas for conventional heating,
R2 is typically lower. This demonstrates that under the same temperature conditions, the reaction rate constant
k for microwave heating better fits the assumptions of the first-order kinetic model, which assumes a linear relationship between reaction rate and pollutant concentration. Theoretically, microwave heating reduces the dependence on heat conduction, resulting in more uniform temperature distribution. This decreases the variability in reaction rate and improves the fitting accuracy of the kinetic model.
By fitting the thermal desorption kinetics of microwave and conventional heating methods using the Arrhenius equation, the activation energy
Ea for mineral oil desorption at different temperatures was calculated. As shown in
Figure 6, the activation energy for microwave desorption of mineral oil is 29.36 J/mol, while for conventional resistance heating, it is 22.42 J/mol. The activation energy for microwave thermal desorption of mineral oil is higher than that of conventional thermal desorption, indicating that microwave energy provides a higher energy density at the same pyrolysis temperature. Microwave heating directly affects polar molecules, such as the polar components or impurities within the mineral oil. Microwaves induce molecular polarization and changes in dipole moments, thereby enhancing interactions between molecules [
36]. This process may require more energy to overcome the molecular attractions, resulting in higher activation energy under microwave heating [
37,
38]. Additionally, microwave heating involves more complex molecular excitation mechanisms, including non-thermal effects, polarization, and enhanced intermolecular forces, which demand more energy to overcome these barriers [
39]. The higher activation energy associated with microwave heating also suggests a stronger direct interaction between the microwaves and the material, offering greater reaction selectivity. At the same time, due to localized heating effects, microwave heating can still maintain a relatively high reaction rate, making it an efficient heating method.