Project Number:
WR03R009
Funding Year:
2003
Contract Period:
7/1/2003 - 6/30/2005
Funding Source:
UWS
Investigator(s):
PIs:- Zhaohui Li, UW-Parkside, Dept. of Geosciences
Abstract:
Background/Need:
At some heavy industrial sites and DOE nuclear weapon manufacture and test sites, free phase chlorinated solvents in soils and aquifers impose potential threat to groundwater. Pump-and-treat, a common practice to remove subsurface contaminants proved inefficient to remove these solvents, due to their lower water solubility and higher density. Although the contaminant extraction efficiency increased dramatically in the presence of surfactant, the extracted water will need further onsite decontamination. Oxidation of chlorinated solvent by permanganate is an emerging technology. However, the reaction occurs only in dissolved phase. Thus, a test for combination of surfactant solubilization with permanganate oxidation was proposed.
Objectives:
The central goal of this research is to test the feasibility of using surfactant to significantly increase the solubility of chlorinated solvents while using permanganate to degrade solubilized chlorinated solvents. The objectives are to investigate the effects of types of surfactants, concentration of surfactants and of permanganate on oxidation of different types of chlorinated solvents.