A photocatalytic reactor is proposed for in situ remediation of groundwater. The concept of this reactor design is to clean up a contaminant plume in a trench. Among the advantages of the proposed reactor are environmentally friendly, final products of photocatalytic reaction are nontoxic and reactors can be connected serially to increase clean-up limits. The design parameters of the proposed reactor were determined based on the results obtained from series of studies, which demonstrated the potential for in-situ groundwater remediation using photocatalysis. The studies encompass sand tank experiments, which simulated the clean-up of methyl tert butyl ether plume, using the proposed field scale reactor. Two installation approaches, i.e., sheet pile and intensive clean-up approach are proposed, dependent on the aims of the groundwater remediation project and site conditions, such as the distance of the photocatalytic reactor from the pollution source, contaminant concentration and the chemical and physical characteristics of groundwater. Field testing is required to obtain more information for further improvement to the proposed photocatalytic reactor.

Proposed field scale photocatalytic reactor for in situ groundwater remediation

246th National Meeting (2013)

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