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PERMEABLE REACTIVE BARRIERS RESEARCH AT THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY'S NATIONAL RISK MANAGEMENT RESEARCH LABORATORY
Citation:
Puls*, R W. AND R T. Wilkin*. PERMEABLE REACTIVE BARRIERS RESEARCH AT THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY'S NATIONAL RISK MANAGEMENT RESEARCH LABORATORY. Presented at NIEHS Conf, Berkeley, CA, 10/8-9/2003.
Description:
This presentation will provide an overview of research efforts at EPA on the application, monitoring, and performance of Permeable Reactive Barriers (PRBs) for groundwater restoration. Over the past 10 years, research projects conducted by research staff at EPA's National Risk Management Research Laboratory have focused on field and laboratory evaluations of the geochemical, hydrogeological, and microbiological factors that govern the performance and functioning of PRBs. Understanding these factors is necessary in order to predict the longevity of PRB systems, conduct economic analyses, and to optimize the implementation of this groundwater cleanup technology for a wide variety of hazardous compounds. The approach taken in studies to date has focused on developing and testing site characterization tools for monitoring and evaluating contaminant removal mechanisms and hydraulic performance of PRBs, in addition to lab- and field-based studies to document the important physical, chemical, and biological processes in PRB systems. Recently a synthesis of research findings has been prepared and presented in an EPA report entitled Capstone Report on the Application, Monitoring, and Performance of Permeable Reactive Barriers for Ground-Water Remediation (EPA/600/R-03/045 a,b). Key findings from this report will be presented in addition to summaries of other projects on treatment of groundwater contaminants using iron- and carbon-based reactive materials.