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U.S. Department of Energy
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Innovative uses of organo-philic clays for remediation of soils, sediments and groundwater

Conference ·
OSTI ID:21294622
 [1]
  1. Colloid Environmental Technologies (CETCO), Arlington Heights, IL (United States)

PCBs and similar low-solubility organic compounds continue to offer significant challenges in terrestrial and sediment remediation applications. While selective media such as granular activated carbon (GAC) have proven to be successful at absorbing soluble organics, these media may have reduced performance due to blinding in the presence of high molecular weight organic matter. An alternative technology addresses this problem with a clay-based adsorption media, which effectively and efficiently stabilizes low-solubility organic matter. Organoclay{sup TM} reactive media utilizes granular sodium bentonite, which has been chemically modified to attract organic matter without absorbing water. The unique platelet structure of bentonite clays provides tremendous surface area and the capacity of the media to absorb over 60 percent of its own weight in organic matter. Because of these properties, organo-clays allow for several cost-effective in-situ remediation techniques, such as: - Flow-through filtration for removal of organic matter from aqueous solutions: Organoclay can be utilized as a fixed-bed media in a column operation. This specialty media offers a high efficient alternative to Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) when applied as a flow through media to remove oil, PCB and other low soluble organic contaminates from water. - Placement in a Reactive Core Mat{sup TM}: Organoclay may be encapsulated into carrier textiles which are adhered together to create a thin reactive layer with high strength and even distribution of the reactive media. This type of delivery mechanism can be successfully applied in a sub aqueous or terrestrial environment for sediment capping applications - Permeable reactive barriers: Organoclay can deliver high sorption capacity, high efficiency, and excellent hydraulic conductivity as a passive reactive media in these applications. (authors)

Research Organization:
WM Symposia, 1628 E. Southern Avenue, Suite 9 - 332, Tempe, AZ 85282 (United States)
OSTI ID:
21294622
Report Number(s):
INIS-US--09-WM-07032
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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