Premium
Modeling the Permeability Loss of Metallic Iron Water Filtration Systems
Author(s) -
Caré Sabine,
Crane Richard,
Calabrò Paolo S.,
Ghauch Antoine,
Temgoua Emile,
Noubactep Chicgoua
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
clean – soil, air, water
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.444
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1863-0669
pISSN - 1863-0650
DOI - 10.1002/clen.201200167
Subject(s) - expansive , corrosion , permeability (electromagnetism) , groundwater remediation , environmental remediation , permeable reactive barrier , groundwater , metal , materials science , filtration (mathematics) , porous medium , porosity , precipitation , chemistry , chemical engineering , metallurgy , environmental science , geology , geotechnical engineering , contamination , composite material , engineering , membrane , physics , meteorology , compressive strength , mathematics , ecology , biology , biochemistry , statistics
Over the past 30 years the literature has burgeoned with in situ approaches for groundwater remediation. Of the methods currently available, the use of metallic iron (Fe 0 ) in permeable reactive barrier (PRB) systems is one of the most commonly applied. Despite such interest, an increasing amount of experimental and field observations have reported inconsistent Fe 0 barrier operation compared to contemporary theory. In the current work, a critical review of the physical chemistry of aqueous Fe 0 corrosion in porous media is presented. Subsequent implications for the design of Fe 0 filtration systems are modeled. The results suggest that: (i) for the pH range of natural waters (>4.5), the high volumetric expansion of Fe 0 during oxidation and precipitation dictates that Fe 0 should be mixed with a non‐expansive material; (ii) naturally occurring solute precipitates have a negligible impact on permeability loss compared to Fe 0 expansive corrosion; and (iii) the proliferation of H 2 metabolizing bacteria may contribute to alleviate permeability loss. As a consequence, it is suggested that more emphasis must be placed on future work with regard to considering the Fe 0 PRB system as a physical (size‐exclusion) water filter device.