Abstract
Hexavalent chromium is one of the highly toxic heavy metals which could lead to severe health issues when it is discharged into aquifers as industrial wastewater. In the current study nFe0/Cu was successfully employed in PRB technology for Cr(VI) removal from groundwater. Batch and column experiments confirmed the high reactive performance of nFe0/Cu towards Cr(VI) removal by around 85% removal efficiency. The main pathways for Cr-species removal by nFe0/Cu were determined as the reduction of Cr(VI) to Cr(III) by both nFe0 and Cu0 and the precipitation/co-precipitation of Cr(III) with the released iron oxides on the nFe0/Cu surface. The developed 3D-surface response optimization model confirmed the reciprocal relation between the residence time, barrier thickness and hydraulic conductivity. The interaction and sensitivity analysis between the model’s parameters were significantly crucial for defining the optimal design conditions of the nFe0/Cu-PRB. Generally, the current study could represent a great contribution in scaling-up the PRB technology towards the real field applications.
Highlights
Groundwater contamination with chromium (Cr) has grown a great concern due to the severe and toxic impacts on environment and human
These results revealed the consistency of nFe0/Cu in Cr(VI) removal without the possibility of the desorption to occur
In the current study nFe0/Cu was successfully employed in permeable reactive barrier (PRB) technology for Cr(VI) removal from groundwater
Summary
Groundwater contamination with chromium (Cr) has grown a great concern due to the severe and toxic impacts on environment and human. When it is oxidized to Cr(VI), it becomes highly toxic and more mobile in both groundwater and surface water. The dominant Cr(VI)-species in aqueous solutions are dichromate (Cr2O72-) and hydrogen dichromate (HCr2O7-) [3], [4]. The presence of these compounds is mainly pH-dependent, where Cr2O72- dominates in the alkaline conditions unlike HCr2O7- which prefers the acidic medium. The exposure to such Cr(VI) compounds could affect the Manuscript received July 20, 2020; revised January 25, 2021.
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