During the 25 years since zerovalent iron (ZVI) became the most widely studied of all environmental reductants, there has been a much smaller number of studies that investigated other zerovalent metals (ZVMs) that are similarly, or more strongly, reducing than ZVI. The most promising of these are zerovalent zinc (ZVZ) and zerovalent magnesium (ZVMg) because they—like ZVI—undergo oxidative dissolution to products that are not of great environmental concern (e.g., their respective cations). In contrast to ZVI, the very low reduction potentials of ZVZ and ZVMg can result in rapid reduction of water, so much so that ebullition of hydrogen can cause operational problems like over-pressurized bottles in laboratory batch experiments. This has led to the presumption that rapid aqueous corrosion of ZVZ and ZVMg will make these metals impractical for remediation due to insufficient allocation of electrons to reduction of contaminants and blockage of pore space with hydrogen gas. However, our recent work with ZVZ and ZVMg has demonstrated that excessive reactivity is not a problem (at circum-neutral and higher pH’s) because passivation of these metals tends to be strong. In fact, it appears that the oxide film that forms on these metals in air breaks down very slowly when immersed in water, so much so that aggressive pretreatments are needed to obtain the rapid contaminant degradation rates that are expected because of the low reduction potentials of these metals. This combination of effects poses a challenge to control passivation of the metal to maximize contaminant reduction and minimize the reaction with water. This paper will summarize some old, but mostly new, results on the dechlorination of organic contaminants and sequestration of metal oxyanions by ZVZ and ZVMg, with emphasize on how the competition among reactions of these metals might be managed to make practical processes for remediation.

Remediation with zerovalent metals more strongly reducing than iron

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

[Author Benefits](https://scimeetings.acs.org/?utm_source=pubs_content_marketing&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=0320_MCF_NPI_Launch_Spring_Homepage&ref=pubs_content_marketing)

[How to use SciMeetings](https://storage.googleapis.com/dl.morressier.com/acs/SciMeetings-ACSSpring2020-HowToGuide_M3020-Final.pdf)

[Frequently Asked Questions](https://storage.googleapis.com/dl.morressier.com/acs/SciMtng_ACSNMSp2020_FAQ_M3120_Final.pdf)

ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.