Feasibility of Using In Situ FeS Precipitation for TCE Degradation
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 135, Issue 10
Abstract
Iron sulfide minerals commonly found in natural anoxic Fe-S systems have been shown to reductively transform chlorinated hydrocarbons including trichloroethylene (TCE). In the present study, we tested the feasibility of applying an Fe(II) solution to a TCE-contaminated aquifer groundwater under simulated sulfide reducing conditions to enhance reductive transformation of TCE to nontoxic compounds. To achieve this goal, iron sulfide particles were precipitated under a range of pH and Fe:S molar ratios in aquifer groundwater samples from the Dugway Proving Grounds, Utah. Batch tests for abiotic reductive dechlorination of TCE were performed using the precipitates to establish the conditions for most favorable solids for dechlorination. Under all experimental conditions, the solids formed consisted mainly of mackinawite, a tetragonal reduced iron monosulfide . However, the precipitation conditions strongly affected the reactivity of the mackinawite particles formed. The results indicated that addition of Fe(II) to a sulfur-rich groundwater could reduce free sulfide concentration to levels below what is considered inhibitory for biotic dechlorination of TCE, and that higher pH, an Fe:S ratio close to 1, and the addition of citrate produced the most effective mackinawite for abiotic TCE dechlorination.
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Acknowledgments
The writers thank Dr. Michael McCormick at Hamilton College for his help in the FeS synthesis and TCE dechlorination experiments. The writers also thank Tom Yavaraski for his help in the GC analysis. This work was funded by the U.S. Department of Defense’s Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP) as a part of the project entitled “Enhancement of Source Area Reductive Dechlorination by the In Situ Formation of Catalytically-Active Iron Sulfide Precipitate,” under the Subcontract (UNSPECIFIEDN47408-02-P-6607) from Naval Facilities Engineering Command to perform “Batch Tests to Determine Site-Specific Abiotic Dechlorination by Iron sulfide.” Portions of this research were carried out at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, a national user facility operated by Stanford University on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences. The SSRL Structural Molecular Biology Program is supported by the Department of Energy, Office of Bilogical and Environmental Research, and by the National Institutes of Health, National Center for Research Resources, Biomedical Technology Program.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 135 • Issue 10 • October 2009
Pages: 1009 - 1014
Copyright
© 2009 ASCE.
History
Received: Sep 13, 2008
Accepted: Feb 13, 2009
Published online: Mar 2, 2009
Published in print: Oct 2009
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