PERMEABLE BARRIERS TO REMOVE BENZENE - CANDIDATE MEDIA EVALUATION

This laboratory investigation evaluated candidate permeable-barrier me dia designed to remove benzene from in-situ ground water. There are ma ny obvious potential permeable-barrier media, such as granular-activat ed carbon or ion-exchange resins; however, these are prohibitively exp ensive for most potential barrier applications. Therefore, developing low cost, yet effective, barrier materials would expand the breadth of potential applications. This investigation considered the effectivene ss of several common materials including coal, powder-activated carbon (PAC), peat, sawdust, and zeolite. These materials were mixed with si lica sand, then used in a bottle paint isotherm procedure. The PAC and sand mixture was selected as the media for a column investigation, ba sed on the results of batch sample investigations. The evaluation of t his mixture in the column investigation showed that batch study effici ency projections were exceeded by 37%. Possible reasons for that findi ng are proposed. Eventually, these data will be used to design field b arriers.