Enhancement of Nitrate Reduction in -Packed Columns by Selected Cations
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 131, Issue 4
Abstract
Tests were conducted in -packed columns to investigate the effects of adding selected cations on nitrate removal by . Due to a rapid passivation of , only negligible nitrate was reduced in the columns without adding the selected cation. However, adding certain selected cations ( , , or ) in feed solution can significantly enhance nitrate reduction. Extending hydraulic retention time (HRT) increased nitrate removal by the columns, but the increase was not linearly proportional to HRT. Decreases in columns’ hydraulic conductivity were monitored in an operating period. A modest decrease in was recorded in the upper and the middle section of the media bed, whereas a significant decrease in occurred in the inlet section. X-ray diffraction analyses indicate that magnetite was the dominant species of the iron corrosion products in the entire height of the column media under anoxic and other test conditions. In the inlet section, however, lepidocrocite and goethite were also identified. Cementation was found to occur only in the inlet section, suggesting that lepidocrocite and goethite, rather than magnetite, might be responsible for the cementation and thereby cause the hydraulic clogging. The magnetite coating would not necessarily cause clogging of the media.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The writers gratefully acknowledge Dr. Klabunde, Dept. of Chemistry, Kansas State University, Drs. Shea and Comfort, School of Natural Resource Sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) for their help and important suggestions during the project. The writers would like to thank Ms. D. Derrick and Ms. A. Blakey of UNL for their helpful assistance in writing this paper. This research was supported in part by the EPA/EPSCoR Program (Project No. R-829422-010) and the Nebraska Research Initiative Program with the matching funds from the College of Engineering and Technology at UNL.
References
Charlet, L., Silvester, E., and Liger, E. (1998). “N-compound reduction and actinide immobilization in surficial fluids by Fe(II): The species, as major reductant.” Chem. Geol., 151, 85–93.
Chew, C. F., and Zhang, T. C. (1998). “Simultaneous transformation of nitrate and atrazine by metal iron powder.” Proc., Water Environment Federation 71st Annual Conf. & Exposition, Vol. 3, Part III Orlando, Fla., 69–80.
Comfort, S. D., Shea, P. J., Machacek, T. A., Gaber, H., and Oh, B.-T. J. (2001). “Field-scale remediation of metolachlor contaminated spill site using zerovalent iron.” J. Environ. Qual., 30, 1636–1643.
Cornell, R. M., and Schwertmann, U. (1996). The iron oxides: Structure, properties, reactions, occurrence and uses, VCH, New York.
Fetter, C. W. (1994). Applied hydrogeology, 3rd Ed., Merrill, Columbus, Ohio.
Gu, B., Phelps, T. J., Liang, L., Dickey, M. J., Roh, Y., Kinsall, B. L., Palumbo, A. V., and Jacobs, G. K. (1999). “Biogeochemical dynamics in zero-valent iron columns: Implications for permeable reactive barriers.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 33, 2170–2177.
Huang, Y. H., and Zhang, T. C. (2002). “Kinetics of nitrate reduction by iron at near neutral pH.” J. Environ. Eng., 128(7), 604–611.
Huang, Y. H., and Zhang, T. C. (2004). “Effects of low pH on nitrate reduction by iron powder.” Water Res., 38, 2631–2642.
Huang, Y. H., Zhang, T. C., Shea, P. J., and Comfort, S. D. (2003). “Effects of oxide coating and selected cations on nitrate reduction by iron.” J. Environ. Qual., 32, 1306–1315.
Klausen, J., Trober, S. P., Haderlein, S. B., and Schwarzenbach, R. P. (1995). “Reduction of substituted nitrobenzenes by Fe(II) in aqueous mineral suspensions.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 29, 2394–2404.
Moore, A. M., De Leon, C., and Young, T. M. (2003). “Rate and extent of aqueous perchlorate removal by iron surfaces.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 37(14), 3189–3198.
Odziemkowski, M. S., Gui, L., and Gillham, R. W. (2000a). “Reduction of -nitrosodimethylamine with granular iron and nickel-enhanced iron. 2. Mechanistic studies.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 34, 3495–3500.
Odziemkowski, M. S., Gui, L., Gillham, R. W., and Irish, D. E. (2000b). “The role of oxide films in the reduction of -nitrosodimethylamine with reference to the iron groundwater remediation technology.” Proc., Int. Symp., Oxide Films, K. R. Hebert, R. S. Lillard, and B. R. MacDougall, eds., Toronto, The Electrochemical Society, Inc., Pennington, N.J.
Ott, N. (2000). “Permeable reactive barriers for inorganics.” Rep. Prepared for U.S. EPA Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response Technology Innovation Office, Washington, D.C.
Phillips, D. H., Gu, B., Watson, D. B., Roh, Y., Liang, L., and Lee, S. Y. (2000). “Performance evaluation of a zerovalent iron reactive barrier: Mineralogical characterizations.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 34, 4169–4176.
Roh, Y., Lee, S. Y., and Elless, M. P. (2000). “Characterization of corrosion products in the permeable reactive barriers.” Environ. Geol., 40, 184–194.
Ruiz, N. (1998). “Application of ultrasound to enhance the zero-valent iron-initiated abiotic degradation of halogenated aliphatic compounds.” PhD dissertation, Univ. of Central Florida, Orlando, Fla.
Scherer, M. M., Balko, B. A., and Tratnyek, P. G. (1998). “The role of oxides in reduction at the metal-water interface.” Mineral-water interfacial reactions: Kinetics and mechanisms, D. L. Sparks and T. J. Grundl, eds., Chap. 15, American Chemical Society, Washington, D.C., 301–322.
Scherer, M. M., Richter, S., Valentine, R. L., and Alvarez, P. J. (2000). “Chemistry and microbiology of reactive barriers for in situ groundwater cleanup.” Crit. Rev. Environ. Sci. Technol., 30, 363–411.
Schultz, C. A., and Grundl, T. J. (2000). “pH dependence on reduction rate of 4-Cl-nitrobenzene by Fe(II) montmorillonite systems.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 34, 3641–3648.
Strathmann, T. J., and Stone, A. T. (2002). “Reduction of the pesticides oxamyl and methomyl by : Effect of pH and inorganic ligands.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 36, 653–661.
Stucki, J. W. (1998). “Structural iron in smectites.” Iron in soils and clay minerals, J. W. Stucki, B. A. Goodman, and U. Schwertmann, eds., Chap. 17, NATO Adv. Sciences Inst. Ser., Ser. NATO, Brussels, Belgium, 625–675.
Stumm, W. (1992). Chemistry of the solid–water interface: Processes at the mineral–water and particle–water interface of natural systems, Wiley, New York.
Tamaura, Y., Buduan, P. V., and Katsura, T. (1981). “Studies on the oxidation of iron (II) ion during the formation of and by air oxidation of suspensions.” J. Chem. Soc. Dalton Trans., 1981, 1807–1811.
Tamaura, Y., Ito, K., and Katsura, T. (1983). “Transformation of to by adsorption of iron(II) ion on .” J. Chem. Soc. Dalton Trans., 1983, 189–194.
Taylor, R. M. (1991). Soil colloids and their associations in aggregates, M. F. De Boodt, M. Hayes, and A. Herbillon, eds., Plenum, New York, 85–103.
United StatesArmy Corps of Engineers (USACE). (1997). Design guidance for application of permeable barriers to remediate dissolved chlorinated solvents, USACE, Washington, D.C.
United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) (1998). “Permeable reactive barrier technologies for contaminant remediation.” EPA 600-R-98-125, USEPA, Washington, D.C.
United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) (2002). “Economic analysis of the implementation of permeable reactive barriers for remediation of contaminated ground water.” EPA/600/R-02-034, USEPA, Washington, D.C.
Vikesland, P. J., and Valentine, R. L. (2002). “Iron oxide surface-catalyzed oxidation of ferrous iron by monochloramine: Implications of oxide type and carbonate on reactivity.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 36, 512–519.
Westerhoff, P., and James, J. (2003). “Nitrate removal in zero-valent iron packed columns.” Water Res., 37, 1818–1830.
Yabusaki, S., Cantrell, K., SASS, B., and Steefel, C. (2001). “Multicomponent reactive transport in an in situ zero-valent iron cell.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 35, 1493–1503.
Zawaideh, L. L. (1997). “Remediation of nitrate contaminated water by -promoted processes.” MS thesis, Univ. of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Neb.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2005 ASCE.
History
Received: Jan 21, 2004
Accepted: Jul 15, 2004
Published online: Apr 1, 2005
Published in print: Apr 2005
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.