No description available.

Chromium (VI) is a pervasive groundwater contaminant that poses a considerable threat to human health. Remediation techniques have focused on the reduction of the highly mobile Cr(VI) to the sparingly soluble, and less toxic, Cr(III) species. Traditionally, remediation performance has been evaluated through the measurement of Cr(VI) concentrations; however, this method is both costly and time-consuming, and provides little information regarding the mechanism of Cr(VI) removal. More recently, Cr isotope analysis has been proposed as a tool for tracking Cr(VI) migration in groundwater. Redox processes have been shown to produce significant Cr isotope fractionation, where enrichment in the ⁵³Cr/⁵²Cr ratio in the remaining Cr(VI) pool is indicative of a mass-transfer process. This thesis describes laboratory batch and column experiments that evaluate the Cr isotope fractionation associated with the reduction of Cr(VI) by various materials and under various conditions. Laboratory batch experiments were conducted to characterize the isotope fractionation during Cr(VI) reduction by granular zero-valent iron (ZVI) and organic carbon (OC). A decrease in Cr(VI) concentrations was accompanied by an increase in δ⁵³Cr values for the ZVI experiments. Data were fitted to a Rayleigh-type curve, which produced a fractionation factor α = 0.9994, suggesting a sorption-dominated removal mechanism. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) indicated the presence of Cr(III) on the solid material, suggesting that reduction of Cr(VI) occurred. A series of batch experiments determined that reaction rate, experimental design, and pre-treatment of the ZVI had little to no effect on the Cr isotope fractionation. The interpretation of isotope results for the organic carbon experiments was complicated by the presence of both Cr(VI) and Cr(III) co-existing in solution, suggesting that further testing is required. A laboratory column experiment was conducted to evaluate isotopic fractionation of Cr during Cr(VI) reduction by OC under saturated flow conditions. Although decreasing dissolved Cr(VI) concentrations also were accompanied by an increase in δ⁵³Cr values, the isotope ratio values did not fit a Rayleigh-type fractionation curve. Instead, the data followed a linear regression equation yielding α = 0.9979. Solid-phase analysis indicated the presence of Cr(III) on the surface of the OC. Both the results of the solid-phase Cr and isotope analyses suggest a combination of Cr(VI) reduction mechanisms, including reduction in solution, and sorption prior to reduction. The linear characteristic of the δ⁵³Cr data may reflect the contribution of transport on Cr isotope fractionation.

abstract: The advantages and challenges of combining zero-valent iron (ZVI) and microbial reduction of trichloroethene (TCE) and perchlorate (ClO4-) in contaminated soil and groundwater are not well understood. The objective of this work was to identify the benefits and limitations of simultaneous application of ZVI and bioaugmentation for detoxification of TCE and ClO4- using conditions relevant to a specific contaminated site. We studied conditions representing a ZVI-injection zone and a downstream zone influenced Fe (II) produced, for simultaneous ZVI and microbial reductive dechlorination applications using bench scale semi-batch microcosm experiments. 16.5 g L-1 ZVI effectively reduced TCE to ethene and ethane but ClO4- was barely reduced. Microbial reductive dechlorination was limited by both ZVI as well as Fe (II) derived from oxidation of ZVI. In the case of TCE, rapid abiotic TCE reduction made the TCE unavailable for the dechlorinating bacteria. In the case of perchlorate, ZVI inhibited the indigenous perchlorate-reducing bacteria present in the soil and groundwater. Further, H2 generated by ZVI reactions stimulated competing microbial processes like sulfate reduction and methanogenesis. In the microcosms representing the ZVI downstream zone (Fe (II) only), we detected accumulation of cis-dichloroethene (cis-DCE) and vinyl chloride (VC) after 56 days. Some ethene also formed under these conditions. In the absence of ZVI or Fe (II), we detected complete TCE dechlorination to ethene and faster rates of ClO4- reduction. The results illustrate potential limitations of combining ZVI with microbial reduction of chlorinated compounds and show the potential that each technology has when applied separately. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering 2017

<p>Ekolo&scaron;ki&nbsp; problem&nbsp; svetskih&nbsp; razmera&nbsp; predstavlja&nbsp; zagađenost&nbsp; sedimenta&nbsp; te&scaron;kim&nbsp; metalima, usled negativnih ekolo&scaron;kih efekata metala na životnu sredinu. Mnoge zemlje i regioni, kao i na&scaron;a zemlja&nbsp; suočavaju&nbsp; se&nbsp; sa&nbsp; ovom&nbsp; problematikom,&nbsp; koja&nbsp; je&nbsp; vrlo&nbsp; rasprostranjena&nbsp; usled&nbsp; sve&nbsp; brže urbanizacije&nbsp; i&nbsp; industrijalizacije,&nbsp; a&nbsp; sa&nbsp; sve&nbsp; većom&nbsp; nebrigom&nbsp; usled&nbsp; ispu&scaron;tanja&nbsp; otpadnih&nbsp; voda&nbsp; bez prethodnog&nbsp; preči&scaron;ćavanja&nbsp; u&nbsp; vodotokove.&nbsp; Prilikom&nbsp; promene&nbsp; uslova&nbsp; vodenog&nbsp; ekosistema,&nbsp; može doći do&nbsp; izluživanja&nbsp; metala&nbsp; i &scaron;tetnih efekata na&nbsp; životnu sredinu kao&nbsp; i&nbsp; na zdravlje&nbsp; ljudi. Stoga je remedijacija sedimenata zagađenih metalima ključna aktivnost u okviru procesa potpune sanacije vodenog ekosistema, a ekonomične, efikasne i ekolo&scaron;ki prihvatljive tehnike remedijacije su hitno potrebne&nbsp; i&nbsp; rado&nbsp; primenljive&nbsp; u&nbsp; tretmanu&nbsp; na&nbsp; velikoj&nbsp; skali.&nbsp; Pre&nbsp; primene&nbsp; remedijacione&nbsp; tehnike&nbsp; na velikoj skali, neophodna su ispitivanja pri laboratorijskim uslovima i pilot skali.&nbsp; Na kraju svakog uspe&scaron;nog&nbsp; laboratorijskog&nbsp; ispitivanja&nbsp; nalaze&nbsp; se&nbsp; pilot&nbsp; istraživanja.&nbsp; Pomoću&nbsp; njih&nbsp; se&nbsp; dobija&nbsp; p ravi odgovor u smislu izbora optimalne tehnologije imajući u vidu investicione i operativne tro&scaron;kove,<br />postignuti rezultat i krajnje ciljeve u pogledu upravljanja postrojenjem i otpadom. U ovom radu ispitan&nbsp; je&nbsp; potencijal&nbsp; primene&nbsp; stabilisanog&nbsp; i&nbsp; zelenom&nbsp; sinte zom&nbsp; produkovanog&nbsp; nano&nbsp; Fe(0)&nbsp; zaremedijaciju&nbsp; sedimenta&nbsp; zagađenog&nbsp; te&scaron;kim&nbsp; metalima.&nbsp; Kao&nbsp; remedijaciona&nbsp; tehnika&nbsp; odabrana&nbsp; je stabilizacija/solidifikacija,&nbsp; koja&nbsp; podrazumeva&nbsp; dodavanje&nbsp; agenasa&nbsp; za&nbsp; imobilizaciju&nbsp; metala&nbsp; u sedimentu&nbsp; sprečavajući&nbsp; time&nbsp; potencijalni&nbsp; rizik&nbsp;&nbsp; od&nbsp; izluživanja&nbsp; metala&nbsp; u&nbsp; životnu&nbsp; sredinu. Konvencionalni&nbsp; materijali&nbsp; poput&nbsp; letećeg&nbsp; pepela,&nbsp; cementa,&nbsp; gline&nbsp; se&nbsp; već&nbsp; odavno&nbsp; koriste&nbsp; u&nbsp; ovu svrhu. Kako u dana&scaron;nje vreme raste potražnja za novim, lako dostupnim agensima za stabilizaciju<br />sedimenta, do&scaron;lo se na ideju o primeni nanomaterijala na bazi gvožđa, tj. nano Fe(0) stabilisanog nativnom glinom&nbsp; i produkovanog redukcijom pomoću organskih&nbsp; molekula prirodno prisutnih u ekstraktu&nbsp; li&scaron;ća&nbsp; hrasta&nbsp; i&nbsp; crnog&nbsp; duda.&nbsp; Nanomaterijali&nbsp; su&nbsp; sintetisani&nbsp; i&nbsp; karakterisani&nbsp; različitim metodama&nbsp; i&nbsp; tehnikama.&nbsp; U&nbsp; nastavaku,&nbsp; u&nbsp; cilju&nbsp; efikasnosti&nbsp; njihove&nbsp; primene&nbsp; za&nbsp; stabilizaciju sedimenta, sprovedeni su ekstrakcioni i dinamički laboratorijski testovi izluživanja. Odabrane su sme&scaron;e sedimenta i nanomaterijala koje su pokazale najbolju efikasnost tr etmana. Nakon toga se ispitivanje&nbsp; nastavilo&nbsp; na&nbsp; pilot&nbsp; skali,&nbsp; gde&nbsp; se&nbsp; pratilo&nbsp; pona&scaron;anje&nbsp; nanomaterijala&nbsp; u&nbsp; zavisnosti&nbsp; od konvencionalnih&nbsp; materijala&nbsp; koji&nbsp; su&nbsp; već&nbsp; u&nbsp; literaturi&nbsp; dokumentovani&nbsp; kao&nbsp; efikasni&nbsp; imobilizacioni agensi. Dodatna potvrda uspe&scaron;nosti tretmana data je analizom i karakterizacijom s/s sme&scaron;a nakon pilot&nbsp; ispitivanja&nbsp; Na&nbsp; osnovu&nbsp; dobijenih&nbsp; rezultata&nbsp; proces&nbsp; se&nbsp; uspe&scaron;no&nbsp; pokazao&nbsp; pri&nbsp; laboratorijskim uslovima,&nbsp; a&nbsp; takođe&nbsp; i&nbsp; prilikom&nbsp; pilot&nbsp; tretmana,&nbsp; odnosno&nbsp; nakon&nbsp; pilot&nbsp; tretmana&nbsp; nije&nbsp; do&scaron;lo&nbsp; do povećanih koncentracija&nbsp; izluživanja metala iz s/s sme&scaron;a, kao ni degradacije sme&scaron;a nakon procesa ovlaživanja&nbsp; tokom&nbsp; &scaron;est&nbsp; meseci.&nbsp; Na&nbsp; osnovu&nbsp; toga,&nbsp; ovako&nbsp; tertirani&nbsp; sediment&nbsp; se&nbsp; može&nbsp; bezbedno odlagati&nbsp; na&nbsp; deponije,&nbsp; ili&nbsp; pak&nbsp; iskoristiti&nbsp; za&nbsp; &bdquo;kontrolisanu&ldquo;&nbsp; upotrebu,&nbsp; izgradnju&nbsp; puteva,kamenoloma, pomoćnih objekata i slično. Rezultati su doprineli u cilju trajnijeg re&scaron;avanja pitanja odlaganja&nbsp; zagađenog&nbsp; (izmuljenog)&nbsp; rečnog&nbsp; sedimenta,&nbsp; pri&nbsp; čemu&nbsp; se&nbsp; u&nbsp; procesu stabilizacije/solidifikacije&nbsp; dobijaju&nbsp; proizvodi&nbsp; sa&nbsp; dodatom&nbsp; vredno&scaron;ću&nbsp; neumanjenog&nbsp; kvaliteta .Nanomaterijali sintetisani u ovom radu na&nbsp; bazi ekstrakta li&scaron;ća biljaka doprinose kako očuvanju životne&nbsp; sredine,&nbsp; tako&nbsp; i&nbsp; ekonomičnosti&nbsp; primene&nbsp; remedijacione&nbsp; tehnike.&nbsp; Zahvaljujući&nbsp; velikoj specifičnoj&nbsp; povr&scaron;ini,&nbsp; malim&nbsp; dimenzijama&nbsp; čestica&nbsp; i&nbsp; velikom&nbsp; kapacitetu&nbsp; za&nbsp; imobilizaciju&nbsp; te&scaron;kih<br />metala predstavljaju efikasnu alternativu komercijalno dostupnim materijalima, &scaron;to ih čini veoma atraktivnim&nbsp; i&nbsp; obećavajućim&nbsp; u&nbsp; budućnosti&nbsp; pri&nbsp; tretmanu&nbsp; rečnog&nbsp; sedimenta&nbsp; zagađenog&nbsp; te&scaron;kim metalima.</p> / <p>The pollution of sediment by heavy metals represents a large environmental problem all<br />over the world.&nbsp; A&nbsp; lot of countries&nbsp; in the region&nbsp; as well as our country deal with this problem, which&nbsp; is&nbsp; widespread&nbsp; because&nbsp; of&nbsp; the&nbsp; fast&nbsp; urbanization&nbsp; and&nbsp; industrialization.&nbsp; There&nbsp; is&nbsp; more&nbsp; and more&nbsp; carelessness&nbsp; about&nbsp; wastewater&nbsp; discharge&nbsp; into&nbsp; water&nbsp; flows&nbsp; without&nbsp; previous&nbsp; purification. When the conditions of the aquatic ecosystem change, metal leaching and harmful effects on the environment&nbsp; and&nbsp; human&nbsp; health&nbsp; can&nbsp; occur.&nbsp; Therefore,&nbsp; remediation&nbsp; of&nbsp; metal-contaminated sediments&nbsp; is&nbsp; crucial&nbsp; activity&nbsp; in&nbsp; the&nbsp; process&nbsp; of&nbsp; the&nbsp; complete&nbsp; ecosystem&nbsp; remediation.&nbsp; Cost effective, efficient and environmentally friendly remediation techniques are urgently needed and readily applicable in large-scale treatment. Before applying remediation techniques on the largescale,&nbsp; both&nbsp; laboratory&nbsp; and&nbsp; pilot&nbsp; tests&nbsp; are&nbsp; necessary.&nbsp; There&nbsp; are&nbsp; pilot&nbsp; studies&nbsp; at&nbsp; the&nbsp; end&nbsp; of&nbsp; each successful&nbsp; laboratory&nbsp; test.&nbsp; Those&nbsp; studies&nbsp; provide&nbsp; the&nbsp; right&nbsp; answer&nbsp; in&nbsp; terms&nbsp; of&nbsp; choosing&nbsp; the optimal technology, taking into account the investment and operating costs,&nbsp;&nbsp; the achieved resultand&nbsp; the&nbsp; ultimate&nbsp; goals&nbsp; in&nbsp; terms&nbsp; of&nbsp; plant&nbsp; and&nbsp; waste&nbsp; management.&nbsp; In&nbsp; this&nbsp; study,&nbsp; the&nbsp; application<br />potential of stabilized and green&nbsp; -&nbsp; synthesized&nbsp; nano Fe(0) for the remediation of&nbsp; heavy&nbsp; metal&nbsp; -contaminated&nbsp; sediment&nbsp; was&nbsp; investigated.&nbsp; Stabilization&nbsp; /&nbsp; solidification&nbsp; technique&nbsp; was&nbsp; chosen&nbsp; as remediation technique which involves the addition of metal immobilizing agents in the sediment thus preventing the potential risk of metal leaching into the environment. Conventional materials such as fly ash, cement and clay have long been used for this purpose. Nowadays there is need for new, easily accessible agents for the sediment stabilization. Therefore it came up with the idea of&nbsp; using&nbsp; iron-based&nbsp; nanomaterials,&nbsp; ie.&nbsp; nano&nbsp; Fe(0)&nbsp; stabilized&nbsp; by&nbsp; native&nbsp; cla y&nbsp; and&nbsp; produced&nbsp; by reduction&nbsp; using&nbsp; organic&nbsp; molecules&nbsp; naturally&nbsp; present&nbsp; in&nbsp; oak&nbsp; and&nbsp; black&nbsp; mulberry&nbsp; leaf&nbsp; extract. Nanomaterials have been synthesized and characterized by different methods and techniques. In order&nbsp; to&nbsp; be&nbsp; effective&nbsp; in&nbsp; their&nbsp; application&nbsp; for&nbsp; sediment&nbsp; stabilization,&nbsp; extraction&nbsp; and&nbsp; dynamic laboratory leaching tests were performed. Mixtures of sediment and nanomaterials were selected that showed the best treatment efficiency.&nbsp; After that, the examination was continued on a pilot scale, where the behavior of nanomaterials was monitored, depending on conventional materials which&nbsp; have&nbsp; already&nbsp; been&nbsp; documented&nbsp; in&nbsp; the&nbsp; literature&nbsp; as&nbsp; effective&nbsp; immobilizing&nbsp; agents.Additional confirmation of treatment success was given by analysis and characterization of s / s mixtures&nbsp; after&nbsp; pilot&nbsp; testing.&nbsp; According&nbsp; to&nbsp; obtained&nbsp; results,&nbsp; the&nbsp; process&nbsp; was&nbsp; successfully demonstrated&nbsp; under&nbsp; laboratory&nbsp; conditions,&nbsp; and&nbsp; also&nbsp; during&nbsp; the&nbsp; pilot&nbsp; treatment.&nbsp; After&nbsp; the&nbsp; pilot treatment&nbsp; there&nbsp; were&nbsp; no&nbsp; increased&nbsp; concentrations&nbsp; of&nbsp; metal&nbsp; leaching&nbsp; from&nbsp; s/s&nbsp; mixtures,&nbsp; nor mixture degradation after the wetting process for six months. Based on that, the sediment treated in this way&nbsp; can&nbsp; be safely disposed of&nbsp; in&nbsp; landfills, or used&nbsp; for &quot;controlled&quot; use, construction of<br />roads,&nbsp; quarries,&nbsp; auxiliary&nbsp; facilities&nbsp; and&nbsp; etc.&nbsp; The&nbsp; results&nbsp; have&nbsp; contributed&nbsp; to the&nbsp; goal&nbsp; of&nbsp; a&nbsp; more permanent solution to the issue of disposal of polluted (slugged) river sediment, whereby in the process&nbsp; of&nbsp; stabilization/solidification,&nbsp; products&nbsp; with&nbsp; added&nbsp; value&nbsp; of&nbsp; undiminished&nbsp; quality&nbsp; are obtained. The nanomaterials synthesized in this paper on the basis of plant leaf extract contribute to both the preservation of the environment and the economy of remediation techniques. Thanks to their&nbsp; large specific&nbsp; surface area, small particle size and&nbsp; large ca pacity&nbsp; for&nbsp; immobilization of heavy&nbsp; metals,&nbsp; they&nbsp; represent&nbsp; an&nbsp; effective&nbsp; alternative&nbsp; to&nbsp; commercially&nbsp; available&nbsp;&nbsp; materials.&nbsp; It makes&nbsp; them&nbsp; very&nbsp; attractive&nbsp; and&nbsp; promising&nbsp; in&nbsp; the&nbsp; future&nbsp; in&nbsp; the&nbsp; treatment&nbsp; of&nbsp; river&nbsp; sediment contaminated with heavy metals.</p>

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This thesis deals with optimization and application of assays for determination of ecotoxicity of nanomaterials based on nanoscale zero-valent iron (nZVI), which are used in remedial technologies. After in situ application of nZVI, a significant decrease in toxicity of polluted environment was detected; however, a potential negative effect of nanoparticles has not been sufficiently investigated yet. Standard used tests were found to be incompatible with nZVI for toxicity determination. Specific characteristics of nZVI, such as high reactivity and sorption, complicate determining the toxicity by routinely used ecotoxicity tests. Concentration ranging from 0,1 to 10 g/l that are used in practise for decontamination were tested. These concentrations resulted in formation of turbidity, which prevented the use of standard tests. In this work, a new method has been optimized for in vitro toxicity testing of nZVI and derived nanomaterials using bacteria. The principle of this assay is determination of oxidative stress (OS). The disbalance between formation and degradation of reactive oxygen species (i.e. OS) leads to irreversible changes in biomolecules of organisms and formation of undesirable products. A toxic and mutagenic product - malondialdehyde (MDA) is formed during lipid peroxidation and it is a...

Chromium is a common groundwater pollutant originating from industrial processes such as metal plating, leather tanning and pigment manufacturing. Permeable reactive barriers (PRBs) have proven to be viable and cost-effective systems for remediation of chromium contaminated groundwater at many sites. The purpose of this research presented in this thesis is to focus on two parameters that affect the performance of PRB on chromium removal, namely the concentration of reactive media and groundwater flux by analyzing the data obtained from laboratory column studies. Laboratory scale columns packed with different amounts of iron powder and quartz sand mixtures were fed with 20 mg/l chromium influent solution under different fluxes. When chromium treatment efficiencies of the columns were compared with respect to iron powder/quartz sand ratio, the amount of iron powder was found to be an important parameter for treatment efficiency of PRBs. The formation of H2 gas and the reddish-brown precipitates throughout the column matrix were observed, suggesting the reductive precipitation reactions. SEM-EDX analysis of the iron surface after the breakthrough illustrated chromium precipitation. In addition to chromium / calcium and significant amount of iron-oxides or -hydroxides was also detected on the iron surfaces. When the same experiments were conducted at higher fluxes, an increase was observed in the treatment efficiency in the column containing 50% iron. This suggested that the precipitates may not be accumulating at higher fluxes which, in turn, create available surface area for reduction. Extraction experiments were also performed to determine the fraction of chromium that adsorbed to ironhydroxides. The analysis showed that chromium was not removed by adsorption to oxyhydroxides and that reduction is the only removal mechanism in the laboratory experiments. The observed rate of Cr(VI) removal was calculated for each reactive mixture which ranged from 48.86 hour-1 to 3804.13 hour-1. These rate constants and complete removal efficiency values were thought to be important design parameters in the field scale permeable reactive barrier applications.

Volatile organic compound (VOC) contamination of low permeability geologic deposits due to Dense Non-Aqueous Phase Liquid (DNAPL) penetration through fractures is exceptionally difficult to remediate using in-situ methods as the low permeability of the sediments limits the delivery of reagents proximal to contaminant mass. This thesis examines in detail the extent of organic contaminant treatment away from hydraulically-induced fractures injected with particulate Zero Valent Iron as (1) ZVI and glycol (G-ZVI) and (2) an emulsified ZVI (EZVI) mixture within a contaminated glaciolacustrine clayey deposit. Continuous vertical cores were collected through the treatment zone at 2 and 2.5 years after substrate injections and soil sub-sample spacing was scaled to show the extent of the treatment zone adjacent to the ZVI in the fractures, expecting the treatment would be controlled by diffusion limited transport to the reaction zone. Analytical results show evidence of treatment in both the EZVI and the G-ZVI containing fractures with the presence of degradation by-products and reduced VOC concentrations in the fracture and surrounding clay matrix. / Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, University Consortium for Field-Focused Groundwater Contamination Research