Previous Research Projects

Treatment of a Creosote Source Zone

The long-term management of dissolved plumes originating from a coal tar creosote source is a technical challenge. For some sites stabilization of the source may be the best practical solution to decrease the contaminant mass loading to the plume and associated off-site migration. The reduction of permanganate generates manganese oxides at the point of reaction between the dissolved organic and the permanganate anion.

At the bench-scale the deposition of these oxides has been shown to cause pore plugging and the formation of a manganese oxide layer adjacent to the non-aqueous phase liquid creosote which reduces post-treatment mass transfer and hence the mass loading from the source.

naph

The objective of this study was to investigate the potential of partial permanganate treatment to reduce the ability of a coal tar creosote source zone to generate a multi-component plume at the pilot-scale over both the short-term (weeks to months) and the long-term (years). To support the pilot-scale experimentation, a series of preliminary bench-scale experiments were conducted to evaluate the potential for permanganate to oxidize a coal tar creosote residual NAPL source and to provide specific information on mass removal, changes in post-treatment effluent concentrations, hydraulic conductivity and manganese oxide deposition.