Evaluation of polyalkastyrene absorbent beads for the remediation of PCE in groundwater

Passive groundwater remediation technologies are increasingly considered be cause they require very little long-term maintenance and are thus more cost effective than active systems such as pump-and-treat, which require the co ntinuous upkeep of a groundwater pumping system and of an above-ground wate r treatment plant. Barriers are being installed in the ground to either pre vent the flow of contaminated water from one property to another, or to rem ove the contaminants from the water as it passes through a porous reactive barrier. Absorbents which irreversibly incorporate spilled solvents into th eir structure have been developed to clean surface spills. This project was aimed at evaluating the performance of the absorbents with dissolved organ ic contaminants. It was found that while they did sorb aqueous phase compou nds, it wits through adsorption, not absorption and that it was therefore r eversible. As adsorbents, the polymers marketed as Imbiber Beads(R) and Exp andabends(R) were not as effective as activated carbon.