Groundwater destruction process

Electrochemical destruction of organics can be an economically viable alternative to incineration, carbon beds, bioremediation, deep well disposal and other methods as destruction to very low acceptable levels is possible [227a], Electrochemical techniques are in fact superior to incineration or deep well disposal as it is a final solution and not a transfer of a toxic material from one environment to another, e.g. to the groundwater or the atmosphere [285], Common destruction pathways include both direct and indirect electrolysis. Many electrochemical degradation pathways remain unclear and may be a mixture of direct and indirect processes depending on the pollutant and its intermediates [84,285a]. 

Phase-transfer oxidation is a technology for destruction of organic contaminants. It was developed to treat contaminated liquid streams using adsorption for contaminant removal and advanced oxidation processes for spent adsorbent regeneration. It was used in testing to treat the contaminated effluent from groundwater extraction technologies. 

Fig. 6 Destruction of 2-butanone in a contaminated groundwater with different UV treatment processes [55]...

The first point of discussion is the influence of the bedrock nature on the chemical composition of waters. We can see in Table II and in Fig. 6 that waters in the chloritic schist or argillaceous sand areas do not differ from those in the granitic area. This is not surprizing, in spite of the well-known control of rock mineral on the groundwater composition (M. Schoeller, 1962 Tardy, 1969) in fact, in the whole bioclimatic sequence considered, the lateritization processes have destructed all the primary minerals, except quartz, and the weathering minerals are always the same kaolinite, iron oxide and oxy-hydroxide, the stabilities of which in the surface are very great. 

Development of a Biological Process for Destruction of Nitrates and Carbon Tetrachloride in Hanford Groundwater U.S. Department of Energy, 1989, PNL-SA-16928. 

The contaminants of concern can be isolated and concentrated into a reduced volume which can be more easily handled. Another potential benefit of the concentration process is that additional destructive treatment alternatives may become feasible. For example, the concentration of hydrocarbons from a contaminated groundwater can produce a reduced volume waste with a high BTU value allowing for fuel blending as a disposal alternative. This not only reduces the quantity of groundwater that must be treated, but also produces a more easily treatable final waste product. As another example, heavy metals can be concentrated from an aqueous stream by membrane processes and immobilized by solidification/stabilization technologies. 

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