Sustainable Use of Concrete Demolition Waste as Reactive Material in Permeable Barrier for Remediation of Groundwater: Batch and Continuous Study

Abstract

This study investigated the possibility of using granules of crushed concrete demolition waste (CCDW) as a reactive medium in a permeable reactive barrier (PRB) to remediate groundwater contaminated with heavy metals. Factors influencing the process of sorption, such as the contact time, initial metal concentration, agitation speed, and sorbent dosage, were studied. The sorption data were described using four isotherm models (Langmuir, Freundlich, Redlich–Peterson, and Radke–Prausnitz), whereas the continuous experimental results were fitted with three breakthrough curve models (Thomas, Bohart–Adams, and Yan). The performance of the reactive barrier in the set of continuous column experiments was monitored using different effluent contaminant concentrations of groundwater, hydraulic conductivity, and solution pH.