Maureen A Downen

Evaluation of an Innovative Technology for Treatment of Water Contaminated with Perchlorate and Organic Compounds Maureen A Downen

Publisher Marketing: Drinking water sources contaminated with both perchlorate and organic compounds have frequently been found in the U. S. Tailored granular activated carbon (T-GAC) is an innovative technology that is being evaluated to determine if it can more cost effectively remove perchlorate than conventional technologies. A question that has been raised is whether T-GAC can economically treat perchlorate-contaminated water that also has organic co-contaminants present. During a field study, trichloroethylene, an organic compound, and perchlorate were successfully removed by adsorption using a T-GAC/GAC system. These results motivated development of a model that could be applied to predict the cost and performance of a TGAC/ GAC system to treat water with perchlorate and organic co-contaminants. Correlations developed to predict organic compound adsorption onto GAC were incorporated into a T-GAC/GAC system performance model. These predictions were then used as input to a technology cost model. The predicted T-GAC/GAC system costs were similar to actual costs of conventional technologies that are being used to treat perchlorate and organic contaminated waters at a number of sites. Due to other advantages of the technology (e.g., ease of implementation) it appears the T-GAC/GAC technology has the potential to cost effectively treat water contaminated by perchlorate and organic compounds.