Effectiveness of Air Stripping, Advanced Oxidation, and Activated Carbon Adsorption-Coupled Process in Treating Chlorinated Solvent–Contaminated Groundwater
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 138, Issue 9
Abstract
Chlorinated solvents are the most prevalent organic contaminants in groundwater because of their extensive and widespread use as cleaning agents and metal degreasers, and they have become a significant threat to groundwater supplies. Groundwater contamination by chlorinated solvents has proven difficult and costly to remedy because of the physicochemical properties of the solvents. This study was conducted to examine the effectiveness of treating contaminated groundwater containing chlorinated solvents using air stripping, advanced oxidation, and activated carbon adsorption processes. The results showed that the stripping instrument could effectively transfer chlorinated solvents into the gas phase within several minutes at an airflow rate of and a temperature of 298 K. The residual chlorinated solvents were further oxidized into harmless by-products by the subsequent process, and the off-gas generated from the previously-mentioned processes were collected and absorbed by four types of activated carbon [i.e., Shanghai coconut, Shanghai fruit, Taixi coal () and Taixi ZJ-15 (cylinder)]. Shanghai coconut exhibited the greatest adsorption capacity, at . Two types of contaminated groundwater containing chlorinated solvents from contaminated sites were successfully treated by the coupled process at bench scale with the effluent concentrations of chlorinated solvents complying with the target values standard for groundwater regulated by the Dutch Ministry of Public Housing. Overall, the study found that the proposed coupled process is a viable method for efficiently and effectively remediating shallow contaminated groundwater containing chlorinated solvents in southern China.
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Acknowledgments
Funding for this work was provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 40901148, 20807028); the National Environmental Protection Public Welfare Science and Technology Research Program of China (Grant No. 201109013); the Shanghai Postdoctoral Sustentation Fund, China (Grant No. 11R21412500); and the National Science Foundation for Postdoctoral Scientists of China (Grant No. 20110490683).
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 138 • Issue 9 • September 2012
Pages: 903 - 914
Copyright
© 2012 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 21, 2011
Accepted: Feb 22, 2012
Published online: Feb 23, 2012
Published in print: Sep 1, 2012
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