Removal of Uranium from Contaminated Water by Clay Ceramics in Flow-Through Columns

Charles Florez,Antonio Lara,Young Park,Delia Valles-Rosales,Emilio Rivera

doi:10.3390/w9100761

Charles Florez, Antonio Lara + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/w9100761

Copy DOI

Journal: Water	Publication Date: Oct 2, 2017
Citations: 7	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: New Mexico State University, Vanderbilt University

Abstract

Uranium contamination of groundwater increasingly concerns rural residents depending on home wells for their drinking water in communities where uranium is a source of contamination. Established technologies to clean up contaminated aquifers are ineffective in large contaminated areas or are prohibitively expensive. Permeable reactive barriers (PRBs) are a low-cost alternative to these methods. In this paper, the applicability of clay ceramic pellets was investigated as permeable reactive barriers (PRBs) material for the treatment of uranium-contaminated groundwater. Flow-through columns were fabricated and used to mimic the flow path of a contaminant plume through the reactive media. Experiment results show that clay ceramic pellets effectively remove uranium from uranium-contaminated water and also can be a cost-efficient technique for remediating uranium contaminated groundwater by a clay pellet barrier. Using clay ceramic pellets is also a practical treatment method for uranium removal from drinking water and can supply potable water for households in the affected areas.

Highlights

Uranium contamination of groundwater increasingly concerns rural residents depending on home wells for their drinking water in communities with a legacy of mining [1] as well as those living in areas naturally occurring uranium is a source of contamination [2,3,4]
The purpose of the present study is to investigate the applicability of low temperature sintering clay ceramics as Permeable reactive barriers (PRBs) material for the treatment of uranium-contaminated groundwater
In the drinking the drinking water purification experiments, the uranium concentration was reduced to a water purification experiments, the uranium concentration was reduced to a concentration below the concentration below the Environment Protection Agency (EPA)’s safe drinking water limit of 30 ppb

Summary

Introduction

Uranium contamination of groundwater increasingly concerns rural residents depending on home wells for their drinking water in communities with a legacy of mining [1] as well as those living in areas naturally occurring uranium is a source of contamination [2,3,4]. Clean-up of contaminated aquifers is difficult due to the inaccessibility to the subsurface and the volume of soil and groundwater requiring treatment [8]. Established technologies such as pump-and-treat and soil excavation are ineffective in large contaminated areas or are prohibitively expensive [9]. Permeable reactive barriers (PRBs) are a low-cost alternative to these methods [10]

Objectives

Methods

Conclusion