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THE USE OF A PRB TO TREAT GROUNDWATER IMPACTED BY COAL-COMBUSTION BY-PRODUCTS
Citation:
McGregor, R., S. Hansler, V. Kovac, E. Laratta, D. W. Blowes, AND R Ludwig*. THE USE OF A PRB TO TREAT GROUNDWATER IMPACTED BY COAL-COMBUSTION BY-PRODUCTS. Remediation of Chlorinated and Recalcitrant Compounds-3rd Int'l. Conf, Monterey, CA, 05/20-23/2002.
Description:
The burning of coal for the production of electricity generates combustion by-products such as boiler bottom ash and fly ash. These ashes have the potential to release arsenic (As), boron (B), chromium (Cr), molybdenum (Mo), selenium (Se), vanadium (V), and zinc (Zn) to the environment under certain geochemical conditions such as those that exist in specific soils and ash storage facilities. One approach for treating the compounds released by the ashes is a passive, in-situ permeable reactive barrier (PRB) which would be situated in the path of the groundwater plume. In order to investigate the feasibility of using a PRB to treat a groundwater plume generated by the leaching of these ashes, a laboratory and field-testing program was undertaken. Various reactive mixtures were tested with the results indicating that the heavy metals and oxyanions could be removed from the groundwater to levels below regulatory requirements. The removal of boron, however, required the addition of specialised treatment media, which targeted the dissolved boron. Based on the laboratory results, a field demonstration was undertaken to test three reactive mixtures. The results of the field demonstration PRBs suggest that the reactive materials within the PRBs is effectively attenuating the compounds of concern.