Test Concept for Advanced Oxidation Techniques

The fundamental information that a well-designed treatability study can provide is essential to the success of all remediation systems. Over the past years several new techniques for in situ and on-site remediation of contaminated soil and groundwater have been applied with varying degrees of success. Based on the wide selection of different techniques, several screening matrices have been developed in order to make it easier to choose the best suited technique for a given situation. However, these matrices only provide an indication of which technology that might be effective and often the assessor ends up with 3 or 4 applicable techniques.

In stead of selecting a full scale technique solely based on information collected during a literature research, it is best practice to supplement the remediation screening phase with laboratory and in situ pilot treatability tests. As well as establishing the applicability of the proposed technique, the treatability tests also provide essential site-specific design parameters required for the full scale system, namely; oxidant demand, delivery method, kinetics etc.

Drawing up field studies and laboratory data, this poster will discus the importance of conducting screening laboratory and pilot tests prior to onset of full scale treatment of a contaminated site with a given technology. For this purpose, Ramboll has developed a mobile test unit in co-operation with universities and technology suppliers. The unit includes equipment for both standard and more advanced on-site oxidation tests. The remediation techniques included are electrochemical oxidation, photochemical/photocatalytic oxidation, ozone, hydrogen peroxide, permanganate, and persulfate among others. A versatile construction of the mobile test unit makes it possible to combine different techniques in order to obtain more aggressive and effective remediation technologies, e.g. UV/O3 or electrochemical/H2O2. Actual case study data is presented to illustrate the benefits of in situ treatability tests prior to full scale implementation of the preferred remedial technology.