Operation of a solar photocatalytic water treatment system at a Superfund Site

A solar photocatalytic process has been under development at both Sandia National Laboratories and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (formerly the Solar Energy Research Institute). This process uses solar ultraviolet light to activate a titanium dioxide catalyst which oxidizes organic contaminants in water. In the summer of 1991, a solar photocatalytic detoxification of water system was installed and tested at a California Superfund Site located at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The site was designated a Superfund Site because of widespread groundwater contamination which resulted from the release of chlorinated solvents, principally trichloroethylene, when the site was a Naval Air Station in the early 1940s. The objectives of these experiments were to measure the effects of process variables and the process efficiency in an actual remediation setting, to collect experimental data and operating experience in photocatalytic oxidation of organic contaminants, to develop accurate models of the system operation and to develop control strategies