Soil remediation using Fe0-doped bentonite slurries
Trichloroethylene (TCE) has been used as a solvent agent in industrial areas worldwide, especially from the 1920s to 1970s, which resulted in locally severe pollution of subsoils and groundwater with this cancerogenic and non-biodegradable substance. In the course of the HaloCrete project (initiated by the Austrian Institute of Technology and Keller Grundbau Ges.mbH) an experimental set-up was developed in which reductive de-chlorination of TCE was induced by the addition of nanoscale zero-valent iron (Fe0) particles mixed with bentonite slurries.
Gas chromatography and advanced electron microscopic, spectroscopic, and X-ray diffraction methods are used to ascertain (i) reaction rate constants for TCE degradation and
(ii) the physicochemical interaction mechanisms between Fe0 particles and bentonite; processes that affect a variety of biogeochemical processes involved in soil environments.
Contact: Andre Baldermann
