Laboratory Experiments with Heterogeneous Reactions in Mixed Porous Media

Abstract

The limited success and high cost of traditional “active” ground-water-contaminant plume management efforts (i.e., pump-and-treat systems) has stimulated a search for less expensive “passive” plume interception and in-situ treatment technologies. The “funnel/gate system,” which uses heterogeneous (surface-mediated) reactions on porous media to degrade dissolved contaminants, is one passive technology under consideration. Research on a heterogeneous reaction is presented in this paper, which can be extended to facilitate the design of engineered porous media systems (i.e., funnel/gates). Results are examined from batch and flow-through column experiments involving nitrobenzene degradation in a surface-mediated reaction with granular metallic iron. A nonequilibrium transport model that incorporates solute mass-transfer resistance near reactive iron surfaces is shown to simulate breakthrough curves (BTCs) from column systems, using model parameters estimated from batch systems. The investigation shows pseudo first-order degradation-rate coefficients increasing with higher solid:liquid ratios and with greater iron concentrations. In addition, nitrobenzene degradation is found to be faster in batch systems than in comparable column systems, indicating the presence of mass-transfer limitations in the flow-through systems. Finally, the present study provides insights on conditions pertinent to the design of engineered in-situ treatment zones, such as how mass-transfer, hydraulic, and reaction kinetic conditions affect ground-water-contaminant fate and transport through reactive porous media.