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SOLAR-POWERED REMEDIATION AND PH CONTROL: ESTCP COST AND PERFORMANCE REPORT
ESTCP Project ER-201033, 73 pp, 2017

The primary project goal was to demonstrate a solar-powered technology—Proton Reduction Technology (PRT)—to generate hydrogen in situ and reduce aquifer acidity to promote reductive dechlorination. During operation, PRT uses a low voltage potential applied across electrodes installed within an aquifer to impress a direct current in the subsurface. PRT was tested on a plume of dissolved-phase TCE and cis-DCE in a low-pH aquifer at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey. Successful application of this technology would allow economical treatment of contaminated low-pH aquifers and remote contaminant plumes where electrical power is not readily available or where long treatment times are expected. This field demonstration used electrodes inserted into PVC wells within the contaminated low-pH aquifer. The electrodes (three cathodes and two anodes) were operated to generate H2 to support biodegradation and consume H+ to increase aquifer pH. The PRT system was operated for 507 days from startup to shutdown. The contaminated aquifer was inoculated with a bioaugmentation culture (SDC-9™) to ensure the presence of dechlorinating bacteria to support biodegradation. Solar panels and deep-cycle 12-volt batteries provided electricity to operate the system. PRT resulted in partial reductive dechlorination of CVOCs in the low-pH aquifer, but TCE dechlorination was incomplete under the demonstration conditions, likely due to borderline pH and reducing conditions in the aquifer. https://www.estcp.com/content/download/45406/423940/file/ER-201033%20Cost%20&%20Performance%20Report.pdf



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