In-situ polymerization to immobilize contaminants in groundwater

本项目由化学学部环境化学科学项目资助。它支持哥伦比亚南卡罗来纳大学的约翰·费里教授和托马斯·马克里斯教授研究地下水修复的方法。地下水是一种重要的国家资源，每天用于满足个人、农业、工业和商业的需要。地下水中的可溶性有毒有机化学物质（如氯化溶剂和木材防腐剂）限制了地下水的使用。许多处理策略是基于将污染物转移到交替相（例如，气相或固相）。这个项目测试了一个假设，即“就地聚合”策略可以用来增加地下土壤中某些污染物的分子量，使它们形成固体，与液态地下水分离。固定化污染物的过程确保它们不再被使用这些水的植物和动物（包括人类）所利用。这项研究可能会产生一种更有效的污染物去除方法。该研究由研究生进行，他们接受基础化学研究方面的培训，并应用可持续的方法来解决环境挑战。研究小组通过研究几种常见地下水污染物的反应动力学和产物来探索这一策略。这些包括氯化溶剂和木材防腐剂。本研究中使用的模型污染物包括国家水质评估地下水数据库中报告的最广泛检测到的有机污染物。几种广泛使用的聚合催化剂正在测试中。新技术可以回收大量的地下水资源，这些资源目前的回收成本高得令人望而却步。该项目还对土壤中的聚合过程有了新的认识，可能为有机碳封存策略提供新的见解。

This project is funded by the Environmental Chemical Sciences program in the Division of Chemistry. It supports Professors John Ferry and Thomas Makris of the University of South Carolina at Columbia to investigate approaches to groundwater remediation. Groundwater is a critical national resource, used daily to meet individual, agricultural, industrial, and commercial needs. Soluble, toxic organic chemicals (such as chlorinated solvents and wood preservatives) in groundwater restrict its availability for use. Many treatment strategies are based on moving the contaminant into an alternate phase (e.g., gas or solid). This project tests the hypothesis that "polymerization in place" strategies can be used to increase the molecular weight of some contaminants in the subsoil, allowing them to form solids that separate from the liquid groundwater. The process of immobilizing the contaminants ensures that they are no longer available to plants and animals (including people) that use the water. This study may produce a more efficient approach for contaminant removal. The research is carried out by graduate students who receive training in fundamental chemical research with applications in sustainable approaches to solving environmental challenges.The team explores this strategy by examining the kinetics and products of the reactions of several commonly-found groundwater contaminants. These include chlorinated solvents and wood preservative. The model contaminants used in this study include the most widely detected organic contaminants reported in the National Assessment of Water Quality groundwater database. Several widely-used polymerization catalysts are being tested. New technologies may reclaim significant groundwater resources that currently are prohibitively expensive to recover. The project also develops a new understanding of polymerization processes in soils, potentially offering new insight regarding organic carbon sequestration strategies.