Abstract
ABSTRACT
Groundwater contamination at hazardous waste sites is one of the principal driving forces behind current cleanup efforts. The importance of this environmental problem has increased recently and will continue to increase as the nation becomes more dependent on its groundwater resources. The objective of this paper is to discuss current problems and cleanup goals with regard to applicable physical and chemical treatment technologies that are used to achieve these goals.
Most common hazardous waste contaminants can be classified as either inorganic or organic since these have different treatment methods. For organics removal, the main treatment technologies evaluated are air stripping and carbon adsorption; chemical precipitation and filtration are evaluated for inorganics removal. General design criteria for the technologies discussed are presented as a guide for preliminary sizing of the various treatment units.
Three case studies are presented as examples of treatment systems, either proposed or in operation. These examples illustrate, using real data, how the selections of physical and chemical treatment systems are made and sequenced. A variety of groundwater contamination problems are covered by the examples to illustrate the broad range of problems that exist.
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