A field trial of novel bifunctional resins for removing pertechnetate (TcO{sub 4}{sup {minus}}) from contaminated groundwater

A field trial using a custom-designed bifunctional synthetic resin prepared at the University of Tennessee and designed to selectively remove pertechnetate (TcO{sub 4}{sup {minus}}) from groundwater was conducted in summer 1997 at the Northwest Plume Pump-and-Treat Facility at the US Department of Energy`s Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PGDP) site. The bifunctional resin, RO-02-119, was a copolymer of vinylbenzylchloride and divinylbenzene that had been functionalized with trihexylamine and triethylamine. The experiment was a parallel test of the synthetic resin and a commercial resin, Purolite A-520E, to directly compare the performance of the two resins. Purolite resin is currently used by the treatment facility to remove Tc-99 from the contaminated groundwater containing {approximately}1,000 pCi/L TcO{sub 4}{sup {minus}}. A total of {approximately}692,000 bed volumes of groundwater was passed through the column containing the synthetic resin (RO-02-119) whereas only {approximately}205,000 bed volumes of groundwater were passed through the Purolite resin column because of reduced hydraulic conductivity and clogging within the latter column. Despite less groundwater passing through the Purolite resin column, however, the breakthrough of TcO{sub 4}{sup {minus}} occurred earlier in the Purolite column than in the RO-02-119 column