Development of a physico-chemical and biological process for the treatment of pink water and perchlorate

M. Sidhoum, P. Wanaratna, S. Nah, C. Christodoulatos, T. L. Su, K. Jasinkiewicz, S. Faluotico, K. Hogrelius, P. L. Sheehan

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperpeer-review

Abstract

Military ordnance production facilities generate explosive and perchlorate-laden wastewater streams which must be treated prior to their discharge off the plant facility limits. Wastewater containing energetic materials such as TNT, RDX, HMX, etc. is often referred to as pink water. As part of the development, construction and installation of a bench scale pink water treatment demonstration unit at Picatinny Arsenal (New Jersey), applied research is being conducted to establish design criteria and operational parameters. The treatment unit consists of two unit operations installed in series: (i) reduction of the energetic compounds with zero-valent iron (ZVI), followed by (ii) a biological reactor for the destruction of perchlorate. Fundamental research was conducted to assess the efficiency of ZVI for the reduction of TNT, RDX, and HMX; and the biological destruction of perchlorate. The reduction of RDX, HMX and TNT in pink water by ZVI was investigated and found to follow pseudo-first order kinetics. The effect of ZVI loadings and the nature of the acid used (sulfuric acid and acetic acid) on the destruction efficiency of the energetic compounds was assessed. It was found that the utilization of acetic acid results in higher reduction rates. Experiments were conducted to isolate and harvest perchlorate degraders from activated sludge where acetic acid was used as the carbon and energy source. The harvested perchlorate degraders were used to inoculate a bioreactor packed with plastic flakes onto which the perchlorate degraders are attached. The bioreactor performance was assessed under laboratory conditions and is currently being demonstrated by the bench scale unit at Picatinny Arsenal.

Original languageEnglish
Pages3269-3279
Number of pages11
StatePublished - 2005
Event05AIChE: 2005 AIChE Annual Meeting and Fall Showcase - Cincinnati, OH, United States
Duration: 30 Oct 20054 Nov 2005

Conference

Conference05AIChE: 2005 AIChE Annual Meeting and Fall Showcase
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityCincinnati, OH
Period30/10/054/11/05

Keywords

  • Kinetics
  • Perchlorate
  • Pink water
  • Zero-valent iron (ZVI)

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