No abstract

et al., Optimal remediation design and simulation groundwater flow coupled to contaminant transport using genetic algorithm and radial point collocation method (RPCM), Science of the Total Environment,

In this work, we explore the use of biochar as a remediation agent, and the sensitivity of the spectral‐induced polarization method as a remediation monitoring aid. Biochar amended columns were fully saturated with industrial wastewater (olive oil mill waste) with very high concentration of phenols (∼2485 mg/L) and other substances. The biochar‐amended columns achieved very high removal rates of phenols compared to the control (sand only). Geophysical monitoring over the duration of the experiment (10 days) showed changes in the spectral‐induced polarization signal (imaginary conductivity) consistent with phenol removal as confirmed by geochemical monitoring. This experiment confirmed the utility of biochar as a remediation agent. Furthermore, spectral‐induced polarization can serve as long‐term, high resolution, monitoring aid in organic contaminant degradation processes.

Here, we show the electrical response, bacterial community, and remediation of hydrocarbon-contaminated groundwater from a gasworks site using a graphite-chambered bio-electrochemical system (BES) that utilizes granular activated carbon (GAC) as both sorption agent and high surface area anode. Our innovative concept is the design of a graphite electrode chamber system rather than a classic non-conductive BES chamber coupled with GAC as part of the BES. The GAC BES is a good candidate as a sustainable remediation technology that provides improved degradation over GAC, and near real-time observation of associated electrical output. The BES chambers were effectively colonized by the bacterial communities from the contaminated groundwater. Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) of UniFrac Observed Taxonomic Units shows distinct grouping of microbial types that are associated with the presence of GAC, and grouping of microbial types associated with electroactivity. Bacterial community analysis showed that β-proteobacteria (particularly the PAH-degrading Pseudomonadaceae ) dominate all the samples. Rhodocyclaceae - and Comamonadaceae -related OTU were observed to increase in BES cells. The GAC BES (99% removal) outperformed the control graphite GAC chamber, as well as a graphite BES and a control chamber both filled with glass beads. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s11356-019-04297-w) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

This work demonstrates the potential of Fe-modified biochar for the treatment of arsenic (As) simulated wastewater and the monitoring of adsorption in real-time. Specifically, we propose the utilization of date-palm leaves for the production of biochar, further modified with Fe in order to improve its adsorption function against inorganic pollutants, such as As. Both the original biochar and the Fe-modified biochar were used for adsorption of As in laboratory batch and column experiments. The monitoring of the biochar(s) performance and As treatment was also enhanced by using the spectral induced polarization (SIP) method, offering real-time monitoring, in addition to standard chemical monitoring. Both the original and the Fe-modified biochar achieved high removal rates with Fe-modified biochar achieving up to 98% removal of As compared to the 17% by sand only (control). In addition, a correlation was found between post-adsorption measurements and SIP measurements.