USE OF PERMEABLE REACTIVE BARRIER FOR GROUNDWATER REMEDIATION AT ONE WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT SITE

The remediation of a nitrobenzene contaminated aquifer at a wastewater treatment plant by a permeable reactive barrier (PRB) filled with Zerovalent iron (ZVI) was presented as a case study. Based on fully analyzing the hydrogeological conditions of aquifer and groundwater contaminant characterization of the wastewater treatment plant site, a 2-D numerical model, solved using a finite difference method via MODFLOW-MT3DMS software, was established to describe the pollutant transport within groundwater and the pollutant degradation occurring inside PRB. Then the effect of decreasing nitrobenzene concentration was simulated with the model by ZVI-PRB in rehabilitating groundwater contaminant. Model results showed that PRB is an effective tool for the remediation of the aquifer under analysis, since the nitrobenzene concentration downstream the barrier reduced effectively and met the regulatory limit set for groundwater.