The role of clay in enhancing attenuation of trace organic contaminants during managed aquifer recharge
Abstract
For more hydrophobic trace organic contaminants present in surface water or reclaimed water applied for managed aquifer recharge (MAR), sorption onto organic matter can play a major role in attenuation in subsurface systems as the retardation allows more time for biotransformation. In case of low organic matter, other sorptive processes such as interactions with mineral surfaces gain importance. Especially for positively charged molecules, sorption onto clay materials by cation exchange will play a significant role. However, if the cation exchange capacity is limited or sorption of trace organic contaminants to clay materials is reversible due to changes in geochemical conditions (i.e., pH, ion strength), this might not provide a sustainable removal pathway. The objective of this study is to investigate how sorption to clay can enhance the removal of trace organic contaminants during MAR with the goal of evaluating the feasibility (i.e., infiltration capacity) and benefit (i.e., retardation of recalcitrant compounds) of introducing clay materials as reactive barriers in MAR systems. Laboratory-scale soil column experiments and batch sorption experiments using well characterized soil mixtures with different clay percentages under abiotic conditions and spiked at environmentally relevant concentration levels were conducted to derive soil water distribution coefficients for a suite of 15 trace organic chemicals (i.e., pharmaceutical residues, personal care products, household chemicals) and to quantify their sorption/desorption potential. All clay materials used in this study were characterized by X-ray diffraction to obtain information regarding their sorption processes. Furthermore, results were compared with geochemical field data from a full-scale MAR site in Colorado where significant amounts of clay in the subsurface were present. Preliminary results indicated that certain clay materials bear a great potential to retain moderately hydrophobic compounds such as chlorinated flame retardants, which are known to be poorly biodegradable and difficult to attenuate in traditional MAR systems. A low percentage clay layer could be used as an amendment in surface spreading infiltration basins to enhance the attenuation of these compounds.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2013
- Bibcode:
- 2013AGUFM.H41H1341R
- Keywords:
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- 1831 HYDROLOGY Groundwater quality