Permeable Barriers to Remove Benzene: Candidate Media Evaluation

Abstract
This laboratory investigation evaluated candidate permeable-barrier media designed to remove benzene from in-situ ground water. There are many obvious potential permeable-barrier media, such as granular-activated carbon or ion-exchange resins; however, these are prohibitively expensive for most potential barrier applications. Therefore, developing low cost, yet effective, barrier materials would expand the breadth of potential applications. This investigation considered the effectiveness of several common materials including coal, powder-activated carbon (PAC), peat, sawdust, and zeolite. These materials were mixed with silica sand, then used in a bottle point isotherm procedure. The PAC and sand mixture was selected as the media for a column investigation, based on the results of batch sample investigations. The evaluation of this mixture in the column investigation showed that batch study efficiency projections were exceeded by 37%. Possible reasons for that finding are proposed. Eventually, these data ...