Redox-active media for permeable reactive barriers

In this paper, three classes of redox-active media are described and evaluated in terms of their long-term effectiveness in treating TCE-contaminated groundwater in permeable reactive zones. Zero-valent iron, in the form of recycled cast iron filings, the first class, has received considerable attention as a reactive media and has been used in about a dozen pilot- and full-scale subsurface wall installations. Criteria used in selecting commercial sources of granular iron, will be discussed. Two other classes of redox-active media that have not yet seen wide use in pilot- or full-scale installations will also be described: Fe(II) minerals and bimetallic systems. Fe(II) minerals, including magnetite (Fe3O4), and ferrous sulfide (troilite, FeS), are redox-active and afford TCE reduction rates and product distributions that suggest that they react via a reductive mechanism similar to that which operates in the FeO system. Fe(II) species within the passive oxide layer coating the iron metal may act as electron transfer mediators, with FeO serving as the bulk reductant. Bimetallic systems, the third class of redox-active media, are commonly prepared by plating a second metal onto zero-valent iron (e.g., Ni/Fe and Pd/Fe) and have been shown to accelerate solvent degradation rates relative to untreated iron metal. The long-term effectiveness of this approach, however, has not yet been determined in groundwater treatability tests. The results of a Ni-plated iron column study using site groundwater indicate that a change in reduction mechanism (to catalytic dehydrohalogenation/hydrogenation) accounts for the observed rate enhancement. A significant loss in media reactivity was observed over time, attributable to Ni catalyst deactivation or poisoning. Zero-valent iron systems have not shown similar losses in reactivity in long-term laboratory, pilot or field investigations