Heavy metal pollution of groundwater is an extremely serious environmental problem. Of the sites to be remediated by DOE, 72 percent involve contaminated groundwater and 55 percent of the sites involve heavy metal contamination. Cleanup of contaminated groundwater is often difficult and can be prohibitively expensive or technically infeasible. One solution, currently under investigation, uses permeable reactive barriers that intercept the dissolved contaminants while allowing the groundwater to flow through. This project will demonstrate the technical feasibility and economical viability of an innovative permeable barrier material made of fly ash and activating chemicals to remove cadmium and chromium from contaminated groundwater. The Phase I project will construct the barrier material with controlled permeability, test its ability to remove cadmium and chromium from contaminated groundwater, construct a bench scale contamination barrier, and investigate the mechanisms for cadmium and chromium removal. In Phase II, a pilot scale contamination barrier will be constructed from the new barrier material and tested for longevity.
Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: The technology should be useful in removing heavy metals such as chromium and cadmium from contaminated water at a cost that should be much less than current technologies. Eventual applications should include municipal, industrial, and agricultural wastewater treatment, and economical ammonia removal. Also, since 70 percent of the fly ash generated in the United States is landfilled, these contamination barriers would utilize a large quantity of fly ash that otherwise would have been landfilled.
