Minimal research has been conducted to examine dissolution and remediation of NAPL located in lower-permeability (K) media. The purpose of this research was to investigate dissolution of non-uniformly distributed residual NAPL located in lower-K media and how mass transfer was affected. Additionally, in situ chemical oxidation (ISCO) effectiveness using KMnO₄ in the laboratory and field was examined. A series of column and flow cell experiments were conducted with trichloroethene (TCE). For uniformly distributed residual NAPL control experiments, reduced interfacial pool area and resonance time were likely the most important mass transfer limitation. For non-uniformly distributed residual NAPL, by-pass flow attributed to reduced effective permeability was initially the most important factor affecting nonideal mass transfer. Dissolution times increased with physical heterogeneity due to bypass flow. Mass transfer was more non-ideal for non-uniformly distributed NAPL. Nonideal mass transfer was most pronounced for non-uniformly distributed NAPL in lower-K zones. NAPL location influences dissolution behavior and ultimately remediation. Mass flux reduction versus mass reduction comparisons for the experiments exhibited how mass transfer trends vary between systems. The effectiveness of KMnO₄ ISCO of residual TCE located in lower-K media was examined. KMnO₄ solution was flushed through a flow cell followed by water flushing to evaluate long-term mass flux behavior, which was then compared to a water-flush control. For water flushing following KMnO₄ flushing, mass flux was similar to the control experiment. However, since contaminant mass was reduced, the number of pore volumes required for complete TCE removal via water flushing was estimated to be reduced by half. 1,1-Dichloroethene (DCE) is thought to be located in lower permeability strata adjacent to the water table at the Samsonite Building Area. Eight injection wells were emplaced in the source zone area, with well screens spanning the vadose and saturated zones, and injected with ~250 kg of 1.7% KMnO₄ solution. Bench-scale studies using core material determined that DCE was readily degraded by KMnO₄, even at lower reagent concentrations (< 1 mM). The natural oxidant demand was determined to be 1.0 x 10⁻⁵ g of KMnO₄/g of sediment. Aqueous DCE levels dropped below detection after KMnO₄ solution was present.

This study examines the use of MnO2 and KMnO4 as strong oxidants to remove specific recalcitrant organic compounds and COD from wastewater. These compounds are deemed as potential and more cost-effective treatment in encountering the challenge to remove Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products (PPCPs) and Endocrine Disrupter Compounds (EDCs) in wastewater to meet water reuse standard. The literature reviews concluded that both MnO2 and KMnO4 were able to remove recalcitrant organic compounds, such as 17α-ethynylestradiol (EE2), Bisphenol A (BPA), triclosan, and dye wastewater. Simple bench scale experiments were performed to investigate COD removal by utilizing MnO2 and KMnO4 to oxidize sewage water and supernatant in a continuously stirred tank reactor at the wastewaters’ natural pH (about pH 8). The results indicated that MnO2 was effective in removing COD of wastewater and not affected by the high content of suspended solids. The effectiveness of KMnO4 in removing COD of wastewater was masked by its ability to break down and solubilize particulate organic compounds. MnO2 application could not be mixed with the presence of other metal ions (or flocculants) as their presence may inhibit the efficiency of MnO2 oxidation. On the other hand, KMnO4 oxidation efficiency was not affected and even was enhanced by the presence of magnesium and calcium ions as flocculants.

Textile wastewater contains very high concentration of color, COD, suspended solids and other pollutants. Methods such as reverse osmosis, nano-filtration and ultrafiltration are known to be effective to remove some pollutants but these methods are very expensive. A new treatment approach which is the combination of freezing technology and Microbial Fuel Cell technology has been studied in this thesis work and seems to have great potential to remove color and COD from textile wastewater. Freezing splits a diluted stream into two different streams; one stream in which water is transferred into ice with a low pollutant concentration leaving a concentrated stream with pollutants. Microbial fuel cell uses the concentrated stream to convert biochemical energy into electrical energy. Three different types of substrates, KMnO4 solution, municipal wastewater and orange juice, were studied. Freezing technology can produce high quality water by neutralizing pH-value; close to 7.0, removal of COD is more than 95% and separating color by almost 100%. Similarly MFC can remove color, and COD by 88.8% and 73.6% respectively. The maximum generation of electrical power by MFC was estimated to 1.03 mW/m2 of electrode area. The findings suggest that this new approach of textile wastewater treatment can be a costeffective way to remove pollutants from textile wastewater while generating some electricity.

No description available.

No description available.