Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2016ND319B

Injectable Nanoparticle-based Permeable Reactive Barriers for Groundwater Contaminant

Institute: North Dakota
Year Established: 2016 Start Date: 2016-03-01 End Date: 2017-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $10,000 Total Non-Federal Funds: $20,000

Principal Investigators: Achintya Bezbaruah

Project Summary: Trichloroethene (TCE) and nitrate are among detected contaminants in groundwater in North Dakota. These contaminants can be removed from groundwater by using nanoscale zero-valent iron (NZVI). However, NZVI tends to agglomerate and settle. NZVI can be coated by polymer(s) to reduce its mobility and increase its ability to stick with aquifer materials so that it can be used in a common groundwater remediation scheme, permeable reactive barriers (PRBs). The specific objectives of this study are as follows: 1) Prepare a novel polymer, which will not only be cost effective but also environmentally friendly; 2) Use of this polymer to coat NZVI to increase their sticking coefficient in aquifer; 3) To conduct two dimensional transport study to determine if coated NZVI particles could be the potential candidates for creating PRBs in the subsurface at different flow velocities and different porosity; 4) To evaluate TCE and nitrate degradation using both bare NZVI and CNZVI (coated NZVI) particles; and 5) To evaluate the efficiency of CNZVI as a reactive material in PRB for TCE and nitrate removal.