Foam-Assisted Delivery of Nanoscale Zero Valent Iron in Porous Media
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 139, Issue 9
Abstract
Foam is potentially a promising vehicle to deliver nanoparticles for vadose-zone remediation because foam can overcome the intrinsic problems associated with solution-based delivery, such as preferential flow and contaminant mobilization and spreading. In this work, the feasibility of using foam to deliver nanoscale zero valent iron (nZVI) in unsaturated porous media was investigated. Foam generated using the surfactant sodium lauryl ether sulfate (SLES) showed excellent ability to carry nZVI. SLES and nZVI concentrations in the foaming solutions did not affect the percentages of nZVI concentrations in foam relative to nZVI concentrations in the solutions. When foams carrying nZVI were injected through the unsaturated columns, the fractions of nZVI exiting the column were much higher than those when nZVI was injected with liquid. The enhanced nZVI transport implies that foam delivery could significantly increase the radius of influence of injected nZVI. The type and concentrations of surfactants and the influent nZVI concentrations did not noticeably affect nZVI transport during foam delivery. In contrast, nZVI retention increased considerably as the grain size of porous media decreased. Oxidation of foam-delivered nZVI due to oxygen diffusion into unsaturated porous media was visually examined in flow cell texts. It was demonstrated that if foam is injected to cover a deep vadose-zone layer, oxidation would only cause a small fraction of foam-delivered nZVI to be oxidized before it reacts with contaminants.
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Acknowledgments
This material is based on work funded by the National High-Tech Research and Development Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (Grant 2009AA063102) and the Shenzhen Bureau of Science & Information (Grant SY200806300176A). The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is operated by Battelle for the U.S. DOE under Contract DE-AC06-76RLO 1830.
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Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 139 • Issue 9 • September 2013
Pages: 1206 - 1212
Copyright
© 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jun 4, 2012
Accepted: Apr 22, 2013
Published online: Apr 23, 2013
Published in print: Sep 1, 2013
Discussion open until: Sep 23, 2013
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