Testing large volume water treatment and crude oil decontamination using the Water Security Test Bed at the Idaho National Laboratory
Citation:
U.S. EPA. Testing large volume water treatment and crude oil decontamination using the Water Security Test Bed at the Idaho National Laboratory. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-16/126, 2016.
Impact/Purpose:
EPA’s Homeland Security Research Program (HSRP) partnered with the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) to build the Water Security Test Bed (WSTB) at the INL test site outside of Idaho Falls, Idaho. The WSTB was built using an 8-inch (20 cm) diameter cement-mortar lined drinking water pipe that was previously taken out of service. The pipe was exhumed from the INL grounds and oriented in the shape of a small drinking water distribution system. Effluent from the pipe is captured in a lagoon. The WSTB can support drinking water distribution system research on a variety of drinking water treatment topics including biofilms, water quality, sensors, and homeland security related contaminants. Because the WSTB is constructed of real drinking water distribution system pipes, research can be conducted under conditions similar to those in a real drinking water system. In 2014, WSTB pipe was experimentally contaminated with Bacillus globigii spores, a non-pathogenic surrogate for the pathogenic B. anthracis, and then decontaminated using chlorine dioxide. In 2015, the WSTB was used to perform the following experiments: • Four mobile disinfection technologies were tested for their ability to disinfect large volumes of biologically contaminated “dirty” water from the WSTB. B. globigii spores acted as the biological contaminant. The four technologies evaluated included: (1) Hayward Saline C™ 6.0 Chlorination System, (2) Advanced Oxidation Process (AOP) Ultraviolet (UV)-Ozone System, (3) Solstreme™ UV System, and (4) WaterStep Chlorinator. • The WSTB pipe was contaminated with Bakken crude oil, and decontamination was performed by flushing with clean water with addition of a surfactant
Description:
Report