Sivaram Harendra and Cumaraswamy Vipulanandan. Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Houston, N107 Engineering Bldg. 1, Houston, TX 77204
A method for rapidly solubilizing and degrading chlorinated compounds (PCE and TCE) was investigated using surfactants and nano bimetallic (Fe-Ni) particles respectively in this study. The solubilization kinetics of PCE (solubility100 mg/L in water) and TCE (solubility 1000 mg/L in water) in cationic surfactant (cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB)) and a biosurfactant (UH–biosurfactant) were investigated in continuously stirred batch reactors. Surfactant solubilized PCE and TCE were degraded using bimetallic iron-nickel (Fe-Ni) particles synthesized using the solution method. The particles were characterized using the SEM, EDS and XRD. The PCE solubilized up to 540 mg/L in the surfactant solutions were totally degraded at different rates by 200 g/L of bimetallic Fe-Ni particles in less than 20 hours, which is the highest concentration of PCE degraded in the shortest time compared to published data in the literature. End products in the solution after the PCE and TCE degradation were analyzed for by products and the chloride concentration was measured to ensure complete degradation of PCE. The degradations of PCE solubilized in various surfactants were represented by nonlinear kinetic relationships which were depended on the type of surfactant. TCE solubilized up to 1900 mg/L in two surfactants was degraded using nano bimetallic Fe-Ni particles in less than 75 hours. The degradation of TCE was represented by the first order relationship. The first order rate constant (k) for degrading 1900 mg/L TCE, solubilized in CTAB and UH-biosurfactant by 275 g/L bimetallic particles was 0.081 hr-1 and 0.067 hr-1 respectively.