Elevated levels of boron in groundwater exist beneath a U.S. EPA listed Superfund site in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Historically, the site was a stone quarry, with subsequent use as an unpermitted landfill. Since the landfilled waste resides partially beneath the groundwater table, groundwater from the quarry will need to be extracted and treated during cleanup of the boron-containing waste (such as floor tile). Site managers prefer to optimize the disposal of this groundwater in terms of cost and technical ability to implement. Our first option was to evaluate discharge this treated groundwater into a surface water stream on the site, depending on the ability to treat the groundwater to NPDES effluent standards. Boron contaminated groundwater is somewhat rare in the U.S. However, when it does occur in typical pH conditions found in natural aquatic environments, the neutrally charged boron ion in the form of boric acid dominates. This poses a key challenge when removing it from boron-impaired waters. Another challenge with the removal of high concentrations of boron is that existing removal technologies were designed to removal naturally occurring levels of boron, such as that found in seawater, on the order of 1 milligram per liter (mg/L). Concentrations found at this Superfund site are two orders of magnitude greater than this (100 mg/L), presenting an additional level of complexity for treatment. The objectives of this project were (1) to characterize the boron concentration, boron speciation and presence of other contaminants from the site; (2) to evaluate the efficiency of boron treatment through boron-specific quaternary ammonium ion exchange resins for treatment to acceptable NPDES discharge levels of 1.6 mg/L; and (3) to conduct a preliminary economic comparison to assess the costs associated with different treatment alternatives for the removal of boron from groundwater. Technologies assessed include reverse osmosis with pH adjustment (RO), ion exchange (IX), and membrane distillation (MD). This presentation will provide the treatability case study results from the field evaluation, potential remediation technology options, cost comparisons, and findings.

Case study comparing novel remediation technologies for boron contaminated groundwater

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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