AWWA ACE59887

Since the detection of perchlorate in some California groundwaters in early 1997, several studieshave evaluated multiple treatment technologies for its removal. Three treatment technologieshave proven to be technically feasible at drinking-water treatment scale: biological reduction,ion-exchange, and reverse osmosis (RO) membranes. Although ion exchange and RO areproven technologies for water treatment, they only concentrate perchlorate into waste streamsthat require further disposal and/or treatment. On the other hand, biological reduction reducesperchlorate to the innocuous chloride ion (Cl-) without the production of any residuals thatrequire special handling, which is a major advantage. This paper describes an investigation that used biological reduction in the form of a hydrogen-fed hollow-fiber membrane biofilm reactor (MBfR) for the removal of perchlorate. During initial testing, it was discoveredthat a bench-scale MBfR was effective in reducing 50 to 1000 µg/L perchlorate to below theprevious California Department of Public Health Services Advisory Action Level of 18-µg/L.At pilot-scale, the objective was to evaluate the application of a pilot-scale MBfR system tobiologically reduce low-concentration perchlorate-contaminated water from an activegroundwater well to below the previous 4 µg/L CaDHS Action Limit. Reduction of perchlorate, consumption of hydrogen, operation and maintenance, removal of other compounds, and hydraulic modeling are all discussed. Includes tables, figures.

Product Details

Edition:

Vol. - No.

Published:

06/17/2004

Number of Pages:

6

File Size:

1 file , 4 MB