High-Carbon Fly Ash as a Reactive Medium in Permeable Sorptive Barriers: Batch and Column Experiments
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 140, Issue 6
Abstract
There is an increasing interest in the reuse of coal combustion byproducts, such as high carbon fly ash, which is generated in large quantities as a result of equipping power plants with low nitrogen oxide burners. In this study, a laboratory investigation was conducted to evaluate the use of high carbon fly ash as a reactive medium for passive groundwater remediation applications via permeable sorptive barriers. Specifically, batch and column sorption-desorption experiments were performed using three fly ashes with a range of carbon contents, and naphthalene and o-xylene as model contaminants. Results from the batch and column tests were consistent in showing adsorption/desorption hysteresis, and a strong positive correlation between the hydrocarbon adsorption capacity and the carbon content of the fly ashes. However, the hydrocarbon adsorption capacity in the column sorption-desorption tests was overpredicted when parameters from batch tests were used in model simulations, possibly because of the limited accessibility of sorption sites in the columns compared with the batch tests.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
Funding for this project was provided by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources Power Plant Research Program (PPRP) and by the United States Federal Highway Administration Recycled Materials Resource Center (RMRC). This support is gratefully acknowledged. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the PPRP and RMRC.
References
Accardi-Dey, A., and Gschwend, P. M. (2002). “Assessing the combined roles of natural organic matter and black carbon as sorbents in sediments.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 36(1), 21–29.
Allen-King, R. M., Grathwohl, P., and Ball, W. P. (2002). “New modeling paradigms for the sorption of hydrophobic organic chemicals to heterogeneous carbonaceous matter in soils, sediments, and rocks.” Adv. Water Resour., 25(8–12), 985–1016.
Altfelder, S., Streck, T., Maraqa, M. A., and Voice, T. C. (2001). “Nonequilibrium sorption of dimethylphthalate compatibility of batch and column techniques.” Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., 65(1), 102–111.
ASTM. (2003). “Test method for 24-hour batch-type measurement of volatile organic sorption by soils and sediments.” D5285, West Conshohocken, PA.
ASTM. (2012). “Standard specification for coal fly ash and raw or calcined natural pozzolan for use in concrete.” C618, West Conshohocken, PA.
Bowles, J. E. (1992). Engineering properties of soils and their measurement, 3rd Ed., McGraw Hill Book, New York.
Bowman, B. T., and Sans, W. W. (1985). “Partitioning behavior of insecticides in soil-water systems, II. Desorption hysteresis effects.” J. Environ. Qual., 14(2), 270–273.
Braida, W. J., Pignatello, J. J., Lu, Y. F., Ravikovitch, P. I., Neimark, A. V., and Xing, B. S. (2003). “Sorption hysteresis of benzene in charcoal particles.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 37(2), 409–417.
Buergisser, C. S., Cernik, M., Borkovec, M., and Sticher, H. (1993). “Determination of nonlinear adsorption isotherms from column experiments: An alternative to batch studies.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 27(5), 943–948.
Chapra, S. C., and Canale, R. P. (2002). Numerical methods for engineers, McGraw Hill, New York.
Cheng, X., Kan, A. T., and Tomson, M. B. (2004). “Naphthalene adsorption and desorption from aqueous fullerene.” J. Chem. Eng. Data, 49(3), 675–683.
Chiou, T. C., McGroddy, S. E., and Kile, D. E. (1998). “Partition characteristics of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons on soils and sediments.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 32(2), 264–269.
Demirkan, M. M., Aydilek, A. H., Seagren, E. A., and Hower, J. C. (2011). “Naphthalene and o-xylene adsorption onto high carbon fly ash.” J. Environ. Eng., 377–387.
Demirkan, M. M., Seagren, E. A., and Aydilek, A. H. (2006). “Reuse of fly ash-amended petroleum-contaminated soils in highway embankments.” Transportation Research Record 1975, Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC, 104–111.
Edil, T. B., Berthouex, P. M., and Vesperman, K. D. (1987). “Fly ash as a potential waste liner.” Geotechnical Practice for Waste Disposal ’87, ASCE, Reston, VA, 447–461.
Fesch, C., Simon, W., Haderlein, S. B., Reichert, P., and Schwarzenbach, R. P. (1998). “Nonlinear sorption and nonequilibrium solute transport in aggregated porous media: Experiments, process identification and modeling.” J. Contam. Hydrol., 31(3–4), 373–407.
Gavaskar, A. R., Gupta, N., Sass, B., Janosy, R. J., and Sullivan, D. (1998). Permeable barriers for groundwater remediation, Battelle Press, Columbus, OH.
Guerin, T. F., Horner, S., McGovern, T., and Davey, B. (2002). “An application of permeable reactive barrier technology to petroleum hydrocarbon contaminated groundwater.” Water Res., 36(1), 15–24.
Gusmão, A. D., Campos, T. M. P., Nobre, M. M. M., Vargas, E. A. (2004). “Laboratory tests for reactive barrier design.” J. Hazard Mater., 110(1–3), 105–112.
Hurt, R. H., Suuberg, E. M., Gao, Y. M., Lilly, W. D., Külaots, I., and Smith, K. (1998). “Fundamental study of low-NOx combustion fly ash utilization.” Third semi-annual report (Oct. 1, 1997–Apr. 30, 1998), Div. of Engineering, Brown Univ., Providence, RI.
Jenk, U., Schreyer, J., and Klinger, C. (2003). “Fe(0)/lignitic coal: an efficient and mechanically stable reactive material for purification of water containing heavy metals, radionuclides, and nitroaromatics.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 37(3), 644–651.
Kan, A. T., Fu, G., Hunter, M., Chen, W., Ward, C. H., and Tomson, M. B. (1998). “Irreversible sorption of neutral hydrocarbons to sediments: Experimental observations and model predictions.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 32(7), 892–902.
Kan, A. T., Fu, G., and Tomson, M. B. (1994). “Adsorption/desorption hysteresis in organic pollutant and soil/sediment interaction.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 28(5), 859–867.
Kelly, W. R., Hornberger, G. M., Herman, J. S., Mills, A. L. (1996). “Kinetics of BTX biodegradation and mineralization in batch and column studies.” J. Contam. Hydrol., 23(1/2), 113–132.
Kershaw, D., Kulik, B., and Pamukcu, S. (1997). “Ground rubber: Sorption media for ground water containing benzene and o-xylene.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 324–334.
Kim, J. Y., Edil, T. B., and Park, J. K. (1997). “Sorption of organic compounds in the aqueous phase onto tire rubber.” J. Environ. Manage., 123(9), 827–835.
Kleineidam, S., Schuth, C., and Grathwohl, P. (2002). “Solubility normalized adsorption-partitioning sorption isotherms for organic pollutants.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 36(21), 4689–4697.
Lee, T., Benson, C. H., and Eykholt, G. R. (2004). “Waste green sands as reactive media for groundwater contaminated with trichloroethylene (TCE).” J. Hazard. Mater., 109(1–3), 25–36.
Mansell, R. S., Selim, H. M., Kanchanasut, P., Davidson, J. M., and Fiskell, J. G. A. (1997). “Experimental and simulated transport of phosphorus through sandy soils.” Water Resources Res., 13(1), 189–194.
Maraqa, M. A. (2001). “Effects of fundamental differences between batch and miscible displacement techniques in sorption distribution coefficient.” Environ. Geol., 41(1–2), 219–228.
Maraqa, M. A. (2007). “Retardation of nonlinearly sorbed solutes in porous media.” J. Environ. Eng., 1080–1087.
Maraqa, M. A., Zhao, X., Wallace, R. B., Voice, T. C. (1998). “Retardation coefficients of nonionic organic compounds determined by batch and column techniques.” Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., 62(1), 142–152.
McDonald, M. G., and Harbaugh, A. W. (1988). A modular three-dimensional finite difference ground-water flow model, Book 6, Chapter A1, U.S. Geological Survey Techniques of Water Resources Investigations, U.S. Geological Survey, Washington, DC.
Miller, C. T., and Weber, W. J. (1988). “Modeling the sorption of hydrophobic contaminant by aquifer materials—II. Column reactor systems.” Water Res., 22(4), 465–474.
Morar, D., Aydilek, A. H., Seagren, E. A., and Demirkan, M. M. (2012). “Leaching of metals from fly ash-amended permeable reactive barriers.” J. Environ. Eng., 138(8), 815–825.
Mott, H. V., and Weber, W. J., Jr. (1992). “Sorption of low molecular weight organic contaminants by fly ash: Considerations for the enhancement of cutoff barrier performance.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 26(6), 1234–1241.
Murphy, E. M., et al. (1997). “The influence of physical heterogeneity on microbial degradation and distribution in porous media.” Water Resour. Res., 33(5), 1087–1103.
Rabideau, A. J., Benschoten, J. V., Khandelwal, A., and Repp, C. R. (2001). “Sorbing vertical barriers.” Physicochemical Groundwater Remediation, J. A. Smith and S. E. Burns, eds., Kluwer Academic Press, Dordrecht, Netherlands, 115–138.
Rabideau, A. J., Suribhatla, R., and Craig, J. R. (2005). “Analytical models for the design of iron-based permeable reactive barriers.” J. Environ. Eng., 1589–1597.
Rumer, R. R., Jr., (1962). “Longitudinal dispersion in steady and unsteady flow.” J. Hydr. Div., 88(4), 147–172.
Sato, S., and Comerford, N. B. (2006). “Assessing methods for developing phosphorus desorption isotherms from soils using anion exchange membranes.” Plant Soil, 279(1–2), 107–117.
Sauty, J. P. (1980). “An analysis of hydrodispersive transfer in aquifers.” Water Resour. Res., 16(1), 145–158.
Schad, H., and Gratwohl, P. (1998). “Funnel-and-gate systems for in situ treatment of contaminated groundwater at former manufactured gas sites.” Proc., NATO/CMS Phase III Meeting, NATO, Brussels, Belgium, and CMS: National Science Foundation, Arlington, VA.
Schwarzenbach, R. P., Gschwend, P. M., and Imboden, D. M. (1999). Environmental organic chemistry, 2nd Ed., Wiley, New York.
Seagren, E. A., Rittmann, B. E., and Valocchi, A. J. (1999). “An experimental investigation of NAPL pool dissolution enhancement by flushing.” J. Contam. Hydrol., 37(1–2), 111–137.
Smith, K. A., Külaots, I., Hurt, R. H., and Suuberg, E. M. (1997). “The chemical nature of unburned carbon surfaces in fly ash—Implications for utilization in concrete.” Proc., 1997 Int. Ash Utilization Symp., Univ. of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, 650.
Spurlock, F. C., Huang, K., and van Genuchten, M. Th. (1995). “Isotherm nonlinearity and nonequilibrium sorption effects on transport of fenuron and monuron in soil columns.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 29(4), 1000–1007.
Su, C., and Puls, R. W. (2003). “In situ remediation of arsenic in simulated groundwater using zerovalent iron: Laboratory column tests on combined effects of phosphate and silicate.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 37(11), 2582–2587.
U.S. EPA (2006). “Performance evaluation of organic carbon + limestone based PRB for treatment of Pb and acidity.” 〈http://www.epa.gov/ada/gw/pdfs/research_02.pdf〉 (Feb. 26, 2014).
Visual MODFLOW 2.8.2.52 (VMOD) [Computer software]. Waterloo Hydrogeologic, Waterloo, ON, Canada.
Wang, S., Boyjoo, Y., Choueib, A., Ng, E., Wu, H., and Zhu, Z. (2005). “Role of unburnt carbon in adsorption of dyes on fly ash.” J. Chem. Technol. Biotechnol., 80(10), 1204–1209.
Weber, W. J., Jr., Huang, W., and Yu, H. (1998). “Hysteresis in the sorption and desorption of hydrophobic organic contaminants by soils and sediments. 2. Effects of soil organic matter heterogeneity.” J. Contam. Hydrol., 31(1–2), 149–165.
Woinarski, A. Z., Snape, I., Stevens, G. W., and Stark, S. C. (2003). “The effects of cold temperature on copper ion exchange by natural zeolite for use in a permeable reactive barrier in Antarctica.” Cold Reg. Sci. Technol., 37(2), 159–168.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 140 • Issue 6 • June 2014
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 14, 2013
Accepted: Feb 6, 2014
Published online: Mar 18, 2014
Published in print: Jun 1, 2014
Discussion open until: Aug 18, 2014
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.